Hyderabad: An inter-departmental alert was issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), warning of large-scale illegal imports of refurbished and end-of-life hard disk drives (HDDs) by unregistered vendors. These consignments, primarily routed through Hyderabad Air Cargo and Inland Container Depot, account for over 90% of such imports into the country in the past three years. The estimated value of these drives exceeds 800 crore.The DGFT’s recent communication to the ministry of finance’s customs policy wing flagged violations of the Foreign Trade Policy. According to para 2.31 (D)(e) of the policy, the import of refurbished or reconditioned computer and laptop components, including HDDs, was classified as “restricted” and permissible only with prior DGFT authorisation. However, these imports were made without such authorisation.The DGFT notice highlights that these HDDs were marketed in the open market and through public procurement platforms like the Govt e-Marketplace (GeM), potentially compromising both product quality and data security. Technical analysis revealed that although these disks appear unused externally, internal diagnostics such as FARM values and SMART logs suggest they operated for thousands of hours, indicating prior usage. The original wear indicators were believed to have been deleted or reset.In response, the customs policy wing instructed the commissioner (Investigation), customs, and the principal additional director deneral, Directorate General of Analytics and Risk Management (DGARM), Mumbai, to examine the matter and submit a detailed factual report. The order underscores the need for customs field formations to apply the import restrictions strictly and prevent unauthorised refurbished electronic imports that risk national data infrastructure.The refurbished hard disk fraud involving Seagate drives exposed a troubling scheme where used enterprise-grade HDDs were repackaged and sold as new through online retailers. Seagate denied involvement in distributing these fraudulent drives, stating that they were not sold through official channels. The company advises purchasing only from certified partners and offers tools to verify product authenticity.