Mumbai Police raids shops in Juhu, e-cigarettes worth lakhs seized; two held

The seized material. Pic/Mumbai Police

Mumbai Police on Tuesday raided a shop in Juhu in suburban Mumbai after receiving a tip-off on sale of huge quantities of e-cigarettes, the police said. This is the second such action by the Mumbai Police in just a week.

Vapes and e-cigarettes have been a contentious issue in the county since the Central government announced a ban on these products in 2019. Despite the ban, these were being made available in the market, sources said.

According to the police, the officials from the enforcement branch of Mumbai Police had received information regarding the sale of e-cigarettes in some shops in the Juhu area. The shops are allegedly located close to schools. A team led by Manoj Sutar raided two shops located on the Juhu Tara Road in Juhu and learnt that these shops were allegedly involved in selling e-cigarettes and fake foreign cigarettes.

"The team of officials seized e-cigarettes worth Rs 4,45,900 and foreign cigarettes worth around Rs 96,258. The total seizure amounts to over Rs 5,41,798," an official said.

The police said, the action has been taken against stocking of foreign counterfeit cigarettes, e-cigarettes of various companies and their flavours. A case was registered at Juhu Police station in the matter under relevant sections of the Electric Cigarettes (Prohibition of Manufacture, Import, Export, Transport, Sale, Storage and Advertising) Act 2019 and under sections of Cigarettes and Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertising and Supply of Trade and Trade), Distribution) Act 2003.

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Two people aged 22 and 45-year-old were arrested in the matter, the police said.

Earlier, on February 9, the police had said that it had raided a shop in Crawford Market area of south Mumbai.

The police had then said that during the raid, the police officials seized e-cigarettes and tobacco worth around Rs. 2.37 lakh including e-cigarettes worth over Rs. 2.24 lakh and flavored tobacco worth Rs. 12,000.

A 55-year-old man was held by the police and was handed over to MRA Marg Police for further legal action, the police had said.

A case under relevant sections banning the sale and manufacturing was registered at the MRA Marg Police station," the official added.