According to a person with knowledge of the situation, Samir Sheth, head of executive sales at Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India), has been detained for allegedly attempting to sneak in expensive watches.
When questioned about the arrest, the company did not confirm or deny it.
A Mumbai citizen was detained by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) last week at the Kolkata airport for bringing a Greubel Forsey watch into the country without declaring it to customs officials. Over 36% in customs duty is applied to these timepieces.
34 of these high-end watches were found during a search of his home in an affluent complex in Kolata; some reports estimated their value to be above Rs 30 crore.
The Mumbai Zonal Unit of DRI stated in a release that watches from upscale foreign brands, including Greubel Forsey, Purnell, Louis Vuitton, MB and F, Mad, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Richard Mille, were discovered in the home.
Greubel Forsey was listed as one of the top independent watchmakers to know by Christie’s, an art and luxury enterprise.
As “sculptors of time, choreographers of the passing hours, and architects of watch movement – with a screwdriver for a brush, a propelling-pencil for a quill, and steel or gold as our support,” the Swiss high-end watch firm, founded in 2004, describes itself.
