Customs officials in CBI trap
A 15-member strong team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the Customs area in the international arrivals section of Begumpet airport and arrested seven Customs & Central Excise officials.The arrested Customs staff were found to be in possession of unaccounted money and contraband in the form of customs-notified foreign liquor and electronic goods seized from passengers flying in from abroad.
Unaccounted money in rupees and in foreign currency totalling Rs. 70,000 was found in possession of the officials. Procedure has it that every Customs official should notify the money in his/her possession in a register before commencing the shift. Anything found above this amount is termed unaccounted.
The raids were said to be a consequence of complaints received by the CBI from international passengers that they were being harassed after alighting from foreign flights. The investigating agency mounted surveillance over a period of time and timed its raid to coincide with the high volume of inbound passengers on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
CBI sleuths started the raid at 2 a.m. on Saturday and continued for 13 hours till about 3 p.m. Once inside the Customs area, the raiding officers identified themselves and commenced their search. Anything that the Customs officials could not immediately account for, was seized.
Unaccounted money in rupees and in foreign currency totalling Rs. 70,000 was found in possession of the officials. Procedure has it that every Customs official should notify the money in his/her possession in a register before commencing the shift. Anything found above this amount is termed unaccounted.
Also several bottles of liquor and cans of beer, electronic goods including watches and mobile phones were seized from the personal lockers of the Customs officials. Of the seven arrested, three were permanent employees, while the rest were on contract or temporary rolls.
Source : The Hindu
(2 votes, average: 3.5 out of 5)
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This is a really good development, I hope at least from now on these bureaucrats will stop harassing the travelers.