The Hindu : Two held for fleecing passenger at airport

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 05, 2002

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Two held for fleecing passenger at airport

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI JULY 4. A woman employee of the Airport Authority and a loader were caught by Customs officials at Indira Gandhi International Airport here for allegedly fleecing an innocent lady passenger who arrived from New York by flight AI-112 on Tuesday.

The Deputy Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), Nitish Birdi, said the lady passenger had been told by the Custom officer at the airport to report to the counter for declaration and payment of duty as gold biscuits had been detected on her at the hand baggage scanner.

However, while the passenger, who was eligible to bring in the gold, was about to do as told, a Senior Airport Hostess of Airport Authority, Hagnu Gangte, accosted her in the Customs arrival hall and convinced her that the Customs will charge her too much duty whereas she would make arrangements for the gold being taken out of the airport for a smaller monetary consideration.

Subsequently, the accused hostess took the gold biscuits from the passenger and engaged a loader, Mahavir Prasad, who hid them in the parking lot outside the arrival lounge. But the alert Custom officer, who had been following the passenger, noticed the entire episode and the manner in which the accused took possession of the gold biscuits.

As both the accused vanished and the woman passenger approached the Customs to report their disappearance, the officers of the agency traced the two, who admitted to their involvement in the crime. The Airport Authority was also informed about the conduct of the two accused by the Customs.

Dr. Birdi said such incidents bring to disrepute the entire system at the airport. The guilty employees, he said, despite knowing the procedures, regulation and law indulge in violations and their success brings a bad name to Customs. But in the recent past, Customs has been successful in thwarting several such attempts and has helped in return of goods to their legitimate owners.

Only a few months ago, two loaders were caught by the Vigilance officers for posing as Customs officials and fleecing a passenger of 500 Euros. Likewise, a young woman was divested of her gold bangles by some loaders in full view of other passengers while in April 2002, a Kuwait Airways employee was arrested for smuggling mobile phones.

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