• I Paid A Bribe
• 14 years ago
• 3416 views

Highly corrupt customs officials at Bangalore International Airport (BIA)

• Customs, Excise and Service Tax
• Customs Check and Clearance
• Paid INR 34,000

Hello,

I am writing this to inform you about the extremely corrupt customs officials at the BIA who are literally harassing and stealing huge amounts of money from innocent commuters.

Recently my friend landed at BIA from an international flight (Thailand to Bangalore), his luggage was scanned and he was called aside by the customs officer and was harassed to pay bribe for carrying the laptop & digital camera which he was using regularly and was carrying for personal use (as per the law, customs duty is not applicable for things being carried for personal use) however the customs officer blackmailed the passenger to pay the bribe and his harassment was so much that finally he had to pay a bribe of Rs:8,000/- and also get him 2 liquor bottles from the duty free shops in the airport.

The worst part was that after coming home and opening the luggage, we found that the camera, perfume and other valuables worth Rs:26,000/- (approx) was missing. The customs officer has literally stolen the items from the baggage when my friend went to get the drinks for him from the duty free shop.

Apart from this, my friend was not the only victim of this corrupt officer. My friend has been a witness of this customs officer collecting more than Rs:60,000/- (approx) bribe from other innocent passengers who were travelling.

This incident happened on 05-Jun-2011 from about 12:30AM to 1:45AM (passenger was harassed for more than 1 hour).

I wonder what the image of India would be in the world if such sort of treatment is given to all foreigners who visit our *******