The Special Investigation and Intelligence Branch (SIIB) of Bombay Customs on May 24 arrested producer Firoza Khatoon and two customs brokers — Mahendra Ruparel (71) and Shailesh Kathe — under the Customs Act for importing prohibited blank 9mm cartridges (air gun pellets) and using them for film shooting.
The three were produced in a local court which remanded them to two days’ judicial custody. According to the Customs, the producer’s company, Firoza Movies International Enterprises, through bill of entry, imported blank cartridges 9mm in August 2021, through the two customs brokers. A total of three consignments of blank cartridges and live consignment of 78,000 cartridges were imported.
According to Firoza’s lawyer, these pellets have been imported by others in the past too. He explained that Firoza Khatoon had been wrongly arrested because she had imported the cartridges on instructions of customs agents.
Customs officials said, pellets were restricted as per Schedule 1 Import Policy. They added that the importer had deliberately wrongly declared the goods as ‘Air Gun Pellet Dummy’ to circumvent the restriction of the Import Policy. Officials also said, the Arms Rules 2016 mention the requirement of licence for arms and ammunition for theatrical, film or TV production. The importer had not produced any valid certificate for import of the blank cartridges.