Delhi Police seize 551 banned e-cigarettes and arrest 10 in pan-shop network

Delhi Police arrested 10 people, including seven pan-shop owners, and recovered 551 prohibited e-cigarettes plus 1,02,800 conventional cigarettes, officials said on Tuesday. An FIR cites the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2019 and the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, and was registered at the Crime Branch.

Police traced the stock from a Tri Nagar hookah shop to a godown

Officers acted on information received on November 2 about Sumit Aggarwal, described as running a hookah shop in Tri Nagar and storing banned e-cigarettes in a godown. A raid on his shop in Omkar Nagar followed, then a search of a first-floor godown in Lal Mandir Wali Gali, Omkar Nagar.

The godown search yielded 484 e-cigarettes and 1,02,800 conventional cigarettes of different brands. Further inquiries and intelligence led to nine more arrests, and the e-cigarette total rose to 551.

The network ran in three tiers with courier delivery and cash payments

Investigators describe wholesalers, distributors and retailers. The seven pan-shop owners allegedly bought batches of 30-50 e-cigarettes at a time, mostly from Aggarwal, at Rs 200-300 per piece.

Police say distributors drew stock from several suppliers and delivered by courier and delivery staff, with payments mostly in cash to leave no financial trail. Shops in Mukherjee Nagar, Shalimar Bagh, Pitampura, Dwarka, Punjabi Bagh and Adarsh Nagar were named as sales points.

Questioning points to Nepal and Jaipur links that police are still checking

Salim, one of the accused, reportedly said he had been in the trade for seven to eight years and that a Rohini pan-shop owner obtained bulk lots of 200-400 e-cigarettes through Nepal. He reportedly supplied Aggarwal and distributors in Wazirpur and Kohat Enclave.

Sabi Kumar reportedly sourced stock from Salim, Aggarwal and a Jaipur supplier, then moved it by courier to buyers including some outside Delhi. Police say they are examining the Nepal connection and Jaipur suppliers.

Aggarwal reportedly told interrogators the products reached school and college students. The police account links the retail tier to shops near schools, colleges and coaching centres.

There is one numerical gap in the public account. The Statesman headline reports the recovery as “551 vapes, over one lakh cigarettes,” while the police statement carried by Hindustan Times and thepatriot.in gives 1,02,800 conventional cigarettes from the godown search; the 551 figure covers e-cigarettes only.

Seven more names and cross-border links remain under investigation

Police are trying to trace suppliers named as Sonu, Sandeep, Raj Kumar, Himanshu Sachdeva, Sunil, Gaurav and Prince. The interstate and cross-border supply routes form part of the open inquiry.

The account of the network rests on police statements and on disclosures during interrogation; no court finding has been reported. The seven pan-shop owners are among the 10 held, but the report does not set out individual charges.

Delhi retailers face tighter scrutiny of stock sourced through courier channels

The arrests give retailers in the capital a concrete example of how enforcement links a courier shipment or a godown to retail counters. Retailers holding stock bought through informal channels should expect questions about where it came from and how it was paid for.

For manufacturers, exporters and distributors in the Shenzhen supply chain, the case points to Jaipur and Nepal routes rather than direct import channels. Any supplier relationship touching those routes carries investigative risk, and the police inquiry into cross-border links is not closed.

Delhi Police continue to seek the seven named suppliers and to examine the Nepal and Jaipur leads.

Questions readers ask

How many e-cigarettes did Delhi Police recover?

Police recovered 551 prohibited e-cigarettes in total, after an initial godown search in Tri Nagar produced 484.

Which laws does the Delhi case cite?

The FIR was registered under the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2019 and relevant provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, at the Crime Branch.