- I Paid A Bribe
- 14 years ago
- 321 views
Cash for Cameras and Lenses
- Customs, Excise and Service Tax
- Customs Check and Clearance
- Paid INR 4,500
This isn't just a one time story. This happens to me almost every time I arrive in India at the Bangalore International Airport and I am sure it happens to 100s if not 1000s of innocent people every year. I am a United States citizen and a retired school teacher. Usually I am coming to India direct from USA or Europe but sometimes I am coming from other parts of Asia. I usually have with me my camera, a Canon 7D and a few good lenses. Every time I have brought one of my larger lenses like my 28-300mm lens or my 100-400mm lens I am pegged by the customs agent and taken to the side. The lens has been seen inside my bag via x-********** and marked with a chalk mark 'X' which signals the customs agent that I have something that might be of interest to him.
He asks to see inside my bag and when his greedy eyes spot my lens he says as if he just spotted 10kg of gold, "Oh, what is this?" Has this guy never seen a telephoto lens before?
I promptly explain that it is my camera lens and that i am a hobby photographer, to which he quickly replies, " I am sorry Sir but you cannot bring that lens into India because you might sell it." "No, no", I say, "I am not going to sell it, I am going to use it and take it with me when i leave India in a few months."
Our little fatty customs agent all dressed white assures me that I cannot bring that lens into India at which point I tell him that he should recognize me by now because this happens to me every time I come thru the Bangalore airport. Then the usual follows, we step further to the side or behind a curtain and I pull out a 50 or 100 dollar note and slip it to his hand and tell him this is for his family. He smiles, slips the note into his pocket and then tells me sternly that I am free to go — as if he has just done me a wonderful favor, when in fact he has just committed a type of 'highway robbery'. But I have a life to lead and I'm happy to be free of this blood-sucker even if it did cost me $100. Then I proceed thru customs and out to the parking lot to ********** my friends.
What a **********-off these guys are! Instead of looking for real smugglers or even terrorists these customs agents are more interested in shaking down a handful of tourist everyday and making a little extra bread money for themselves.
The solution I see to the problem is this. Pay the customs agents a better salary and insist that they do their duty without corruption. And if caught even once taking a bribe or hassling an innocent person for such then fire him from his job and give him 2 years in a state prison. It may not stop corruption fully but it will certainly be a deterrent for those who are a bit more pious. *******