Diamond Merchant Faces Court on $26m Smuggling Charges

(IDEX Online) - A diamond merchant accused of smuggling $26m of diamonds has been arrested by customs officials at Delhi airport.

Meet Kachhadiya, who ran a Universal Diamonds, in Surat's Sachin Special Economic Zone (SEZ), allegedly evaded duty when he exported 30 consignments of "lab grown" diamonds to Hong Kong from February 2021 to May 2021.

He'd reportedly been evading arrest since May 2021, when officials found two consignments were over their declared weights. The first, declared as 12,000 carats, was actually 26,000 carats.  The second, declared as 20,000 carats, was actually 27,000 carats.

In addition, all the diamonds seized turned out to be natural, despite being declared as lab grown.

Kachhadiya was remanded for two days when he appeared before a court in Surat earlier today, according to a report in theThe Indian Express.

Generic pic of diamonds