In a significant operation, officials at Jawaharlal Nehru Custom House (JNCH), Nhava Sheva, recently seized 112.14 metric tonnes (MT) of areca nuts, popularly known as betel nuts or supari, worth Rs 5.7 crore. This marks the second largest seizure of the month. The contraband, hidden in ten containers and falsely declared as bitumen, was imported from the UAE, sources reported on Wednesday. The smugglers attempted to evade approximately Rs 6.27 crore in duty, according to an official statement.
Government records indicate that 416 cases of illegal areca nut smuggling were registered in the country in 2023-24 (upto December 2023), leading to the seizure of 6760.8 metric tonnes (over 67 lakh kilograms) of the contraband. This also raises an important question: Why are these nuts being smuggled?
Why is betel nut being smuggled into India?
According to several studies, betel nuts are one of the most widely self-administered psychoactive substances in the world. In India, these are widely consumed, combined with slaked lime, spices and even tobacco, for their mild psychostimulant effect. Moreover, the nut is used in ayurvedic medicines and in Hindu religious ceremonies, as offerings to gods or tokens during births, marriages, and even death.
Areca nuts are widely used in India. However, to protect the domestic industry, a tariff of $10,379 per metric tonne is levied on the imported nuts, which is 110 percent of their value. “To avoid this tariff, unscrupulous importers resort to misdeclaration,” said an official. Despite India being the largest producer of areca nuts globally, the nuts are heavily smuggled to feed the illegal gutkha industry.
Earlier this month, the Special Intelligence and Investigation Branch (SIIB) officers at JNCH had confiscated 189.6 MT of areca nuts valued at Rs 9.63 crore. These were hidden in nine containers and misdeclared as ‘bitumen grade 60/70’ in import documents. Two individuals were arrested in connection with the earlier seizure.