Customs seizure of 4,000 kg betel nuts at New Jalpaiguri set aside by Tribunal
Customs officers seized 4,000 kg of betel nuts at New Jalpaiguri station in 2018 on belief they were smuggled. The adjudicating authority confiscated the goods and fined the consignor Rs 1,60,000. The CESTAT Kolkata set aside the confiscation and penalty on 6 May 2025.
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How we verify →The confiscation and penalty stand set aside by the CESTAT order dated 6 May 2025, with consequential relief as per law.
What happened
The Tribunal recorded that the consignor had despatched betel nuts under two tax invoices dated 2.3.18 to a Dum Dum firm by railway parcel, and the consignments moving by Saraighat Express were intercepted at New Jalpaiguri Railway Station and seized on 5.3.18 on the belief they were smuggled without payment of duty.
The Tribunal recorded that a show-cause notice dated 31.8.2018 alleged the 50 sacks of betel nuts were illegally imported, and the adjudicating authority ordered confiscation under Section 111(b) and (d) and a Rs 1,60,000 penalty under Section 112(b), which the Commissioner (Appeals) upheld on 10.9.2021.
The Tribunal held that betel nuts are non-notified goods for which the burden to prove foreign origin and smuggled character lies on Revenue, and that the only evidence, an ARDF Mangalore report saying samples resembled Myanmar origin, could not establish foreign origin.
The Tribunal held that if the ARDF report was taken out of record there was no other evidence of foreign origin, so confiscation under Section 111(b) and (d) did not arise and the penalty under Section 112(b) was also set aside with consequential relief.
No violence, fraud, minors, coercion, trafficking, animal cruelty, or poisonous or spurious goods were alleged; the dispute was only about duty liability and origin of an ordinary farm produce.
What the record says
“We observe that 50 nos, of sacks containing total 4000 kgs. of betel nuts valuing Rs.8,00,000/- were seized on 5.3.18, during the course of its transportation through Saraighat Express, at New Jalpaiguri Railway Station.”
CESTAT Kolkata, Customs Appeal No. 75940 of 2021, Final Order No. 76238/2025 dated 06.05.2025, para 7 — read the full text
A peaceful economic act
Moving ordinary farm produce by rail harmed no one; the state seized the cargo and penalised the trader only for alleged duty evasion on a non-notified good.
What we could not confirm
Searched 2026 Customs/smuggling results for West Bengal; recent 2026 Kolkata CESTAT results concerned gold, which is excluded, so the May 2025 betel-nut order is the most recent qualifying ordinary-goods case found.