- Bribe Fighter
- 14 years ago
- 1970 views
Greedy Custom Officers
OK, i came down with my wife and 2 kids back to goa after 10 years living in the UK. I had a lot of house items i had collected over the years in UK and for sentimental reasons shipped them from UK to GOA- Vasco. I knew about the custom officers harassment via some stories i had heard before. I shippped my stuff anyway and flew to india. After 2 days arriving to india i went to collect my goods from the custom warehouse. 2 custom officers appearing very offensive started opening our packakges one by one and making silent notes... my wife and me were sweating to know how much they were going to demand.
Whe they finished making the lengthy notes -- the officer decalred you will have to pay a substantial amount for these goods - 10,000 Rs. My only preperation for this kind of incidence was - before I shipped all my goods to India i noted from the Custom website all the goods that were custom duty chargeable and excluded those certain items and carried them in my flight baggage. Theoratically they should not be charging me single rupee ... i took the courage against the offending custom officers and spoke up and showed my printed documents from the custom website and all the items matching the custom regulation. After argueing for about 1 hour they threatned me with having to deal with more headached and more stern senior officers. I stood my ground and said i am not doing anything illegal and i will challange you anywhere on grounds that i have followed everything the document says. They got senior officer in the end.He looked at all the details i had produced and said... "You are the first person i have seen so well prepared in years" and instructed his officers to release my goods. I have never felt so good about myself and i make a point till today to be well prepared for such situation... but i know not everytime i can win these battles.