Delhi: Man held for selling banned imported cigarettes

New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) The Delhi Police has arrested a man for allegedly selling banned imported cigarettes without mandatory health warnings and seized over 68,000 cigarettes from his shop in south Delhi's Kotla Mubarakpur area, an official said on Sunday.

The accused, identified as Purshottam Gupta, has been running the shop in Kotla Mubarakpur for the past 20 years, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, a team conducted a raid at his shop on Saturday and recovered 68,200 banned cigarettes.

Police said the seized stock consisted of imported cigarette brands that did not carry statutory pictorial warnings as required under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA).

During interrogation, Gupta admitted to illegally procuring and selling such products for profit, police said, adding, further investigation is underway to identify the supply chain. PTI BM BM ARB DV DV