African port barrels India imported (5)
I believe the answer is:
tunis
'african port' is the definition.
'tunis' can be an answer for 'port' (I've seen this before). I also know that 'african' relates to this answer.
'barrels india imported' is the wordplay.
'barrels' becomes 'tuns' (tun is a kind of barrel).
'india' becomes 'i' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'imported' indicates putting letters inside.
'tuns' going around 'i' is 'TUNIS'.
(Other definitions for tunis that I've seen before include "N African port" , "Capital of a republic in north Africa" , "Carthage lies near this N. African city" , "North African port and capital" , "North African city" .)