Illegal E-cigarette Bust Involving ELFBAR, IGET in Surat City by Police Squad

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Jul.15.2024
Illegal E-cigarette Bust Involving ELFBAR, IGET in Surat City by Police Squad
Indian police raid in Surat leads to seizure of $3445.86 worth of illegal e-cigarettes, arrests three suspects for sales in upscale areas.

According to a report from the Times of India on July 15, the Surat city police Special Operations Group (SOG) seized illegal e-cigarettes worth 288,000 rupees (3445.86 US dollars) in the Athwalines area on Saturday (13th).


The price of these e-cigarettes ranges from 3,000 (35.89 USD) to 5,000 rupees (59.82 USD) each. Eventually, the police arrested three individuals, Anas Ghadiyali, Adnan Ghadiyali, and Talha.


The police also found that these e-cigarettes were being sold to young people in upscale areas such as Vesu, Althan, Pal, City Light, and Adajan.


Police received a tip-off that the "Time World" store in the Sahara Market, under the jurisdiction of Athwalines police station, was selling e-cigarettes. The Special Operations Group (SOG) conducted a raid on the store and found a hidden batch of e-cigarettes in the store's cabinets, including disposable e-cigarettes, refillable e-cigarettes, pods, and flavored pods.


The seized e-cigarette brands include ELFBAR Raya D1 (18 units), IGET (17 units), QAIF2 (14 units), Nasty Hooqa (9 units), Nasty Bar (5 units), Clutch Mesh Coil (4 units), and Istick Pico (1 unit). Each e-cigarette is priced between 3,000 (35.89 USD) and 5,000 rupees (59.82 USD).


We found that these e-cigarettes are being sold through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, and Facebook.


According to police, these e-cigarettes are popular among young people from wealthy families. They come in flavors such as apple, pineapple, lychee, cherry, raspberry, blueberry, and peach.


The police also found 430 supplementary e-liquids worth 64,5000 rupees (7717.30 US dollars) on the accused.


Three defendants have been charged under Articles 4, 5, 7, and 8 of the 2019 Law Prohibiting E-Cigarettes (Production, Manufacturing, Importing, Exporting, Transporting, Selling, Distributing, Storing, and Advertising).


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