Customs finds Miss Asia Pacific's seized crown has fake diamonds

After seizing the crown of the of recently anointed Miss Asia Pacific, Srishti Rana, a valuation expert of the customs department has now announced that the ornament is almost entirely made of glass and not diamonds as believed.

Rana, who won the title in in Busan, South Korea on 30 October, had her crown seized on Tuesday by the customs department at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on her arrival in Mumbai.

Rana was asked to pay the duty for the crown as it contained valuable diamonds.

In order to waive off duty of any participant getting such an award, the customs department needs to get a special exemption notification by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC),  a custom official told PTI.

Since Rana did not have it, the authorities seized the crown, the official added.

However, after confiscating the crown when it was sent to an official valuer to evaluate its worth, it was discovered that the crown was actually made of brass and glass.

Hindustan Times reported that since that since the crown was not made of diamonds or any other valuable metals it doesn’t have any value.