The investigation team under the Customs Preventive Commissionerate in Kochi has arrested five people in connection with a major smuggling racket involving high-end second-hand vehicles illegally brought into India from Bhutan without paying customs duty.
The arrests are part of Operation Numkhor, an ongoing investigation into the smuggling and fraudulent registration of luxury cars, lorries and other vehicles that were imported through illegal channels and later registered in India using forged documents.
The mastermind of one such racket, Biswadip Das from Naigaon, West Bengal, was arrested on February 22 near the India–Bhutan border. Officials said he played a key role in coordinating the smuggling network that facilitated the entry and circulation of high-value vehicles without customs clearance. There are several such rackets operating across the country, and he is the mastermind of one of them, according to investigators.
"Our investigation team from Kochi travelled to Jaigaon in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal and carried out the arrest,” Dr T Tiju IRS, Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), Kochi told TNM.
Biswadip was later produced before a court, remanded to judicial custody and brought to Kochi on transit remand for further questioning.
“Following this, our dedicated team moved to Assam and arrested Mangaldoi transport office agent Dipak Patowary along with four others. All of them were involved in vehicle smuggling,” he added.
In a related operation carried out with the assistance of the Shillong Customs Preventive formation, four more suspects were arrested in Assam on February 25. They have been identified as Dipak Patowary, Ayub Ali, MD Mostafa Ahmed alias Rinku and Jalal Mandal.
Investigators found that the accused were allegedly involved in the illegal registration of around 460 vehicles using forged documents. The matter is also under investigation by the Assam police.
According to Customs officials, the vehicles involved include foreign-made luxury models as well as Indian-manufactured vehicles that had been exported earlier and were later smuggled back into the country without undergoing customs clearance or payment of duties.
The racket was not limited to foreign vehicles. Earlier, India-manufactured vehicles exported to Bhutan were given duty concessions, and these vehicles were later smuggled back into India, investigators said The network dealt with different types of vehicles, including heavy vehicles and high-end foreign cars. Using forged documents, they managed to register these vehicles in several Northeastern states.
A special team from Kochi Customs Preventive travelled nearly 3,000 kilometres within a week to carry out the coordinated arrests across multiple states.
Officials said Operation Numkhor is turning into one of the largest investigations into vehicle smuggling and fraudulent registration in the country. The investigation to uncover the full network behind the smuggling operation is underway and more arrests are expected as the probe progresses.
The scale of irregularities in vehicle registrations in the Northeast was also flagged in a recent audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India that was tabled in the Assam Assembly on February 19, 2026. The report said an examination of records in the VAHAN database covering Assam and seven other Northeastern states found 15,849 vehicles carrying identical chassis and engine numbers registered in two or more states. Of these, 12,112 vehicles were registered in Assam, many without the mandatory no-objection certificate required when a vehicle shifts from one state to another, accounting for about 76 percent of the cases identified during the audit. Considering the findings highlighted in the CAG report as well, Operation Numkhor has unearthed India’s largest vehicle smuggling racket.
As per reports, those who were arrested in Assam have confessed that they handled at least 450 to 500 vehicles. The vehicles were shown as registered under Lakshadweep registration, but no vehicles have actually been registered in Lakshadweep. Assam police have also registered cases against them.
The audit also highlighted systemic gaps in transport administration, noting that across eight district transport offices only 26,105 permits were issued against 1,19,369 registered vehicles between 2019 and 2024. It further raised safety concerns after finding that several school buses had been issued contract carriage permits instead of the designated Educational Institution Bus permits, a move that could bypass stricter safety requirements meant for vehicles transporting students.
Customs officials said the investigation began in 2024 after the Kochi Customs Preventive unit received intelligence that second-hand high-end cars from Bhutan were being illegally brought into India. During the initial probe, officers traced about 10 such vehicles in Coimbatore and found indications that a large number of similar vehicles were being routed through Tamil Nadu and brought to Kerala for sale. Officials said Kerala had emerged as a key market for these vehicles due to the presence of a larger clientele interested in high-end second-hand cars.
Sources in the Customs department told TNM that around 140 to 200 such vehicles with suspicious documents are believed to have been sold across Kerala. “For example, a Land Cruiser that normally costs more than Rs 2 crore has been sold here for Rs 35 to Rs 40 lakh. All of them are pre-owned vehicles. In many cases, the vehicles are brought in as parts and later assembled and modified here. Sometimes they are also brought in Completely Knocked Down (CKD) condition,” an officer said.
“Bhutan borders are open, so they first identify the vehicle there. The vehicle is then brought by road and left near the border. Their counterparts in India take possession of it and move it to places where there is demand. In some cases, the vehicles are also transported into the country inside containers,” he added.
Import of used vehicles are not allowed in India apart from very few exceptions. According to Customs, These vehicles often do not have the first or second registration recorded, and in many cases there are no valid documents to establish their origin. Sometimes they are falsely claimed to be auctioned vehicles from the Indian Army or from embassies, but that is not the case. Many vehicles identified in Kerala had number plates from other states.
Officers said it becomes difficult to identify where the vehicle actually came from, which also poses a security threat. In several cases, vehicles that were supposed to be scrapped are being reused. These vehicles are wrongly registered using fake or forged documents, making them a major threat on the roads.
It was on September 23, 2025, that 36 high-end vehicles were seized in Kerala as part of ‘Operation Numkhor’. Two luxury cars owned by actor Dulquer Salmaan were also there among the 36 vehicles.
Customs officials also said that many of these vehicles found in Kerala were registered through the Parivahan portal with erroneous details. Investigators suspect manipulation of the Parivahan system in the registration process and said a detailed inquiry is required to understand how such fraudulent registrations were carried out through the platform.