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General News
Electronic gadget smuggling rampant
Wednesday - 28th December, 2011 | www.thehimalayantimes.com |
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Nexus of employees of Nepal Airlines and customs clearing agents and local enterprenuers have been looting public purse while importing goods through Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Customs Office, according to the Department of Customs source.
It is revealed that some employees at Nepal Airlines are involved in smuggling of high-value goods including iphone, ipad, foreign watch and other luxurious and expensive merchandises, the department source familiar with the trend said. In its latest proof, the Customs Office at TIA had raided 2 ipads, 2 ipods, 2 cameras and 4 iphones from handbag of an employee in December 23. It is suspected that employees of Nepal Airlines help importers in smuggling high-valued goods in low quantity but frequently.
Nepal Airlines staffs may be performing such illegal activities taking advantage of exemption of checking from airport security, according to TIA customs officials. “It is like carrying goods in small quantity from locals at different customs points in bordering districts,” official at TIA Customs Office claimed.
“The difference is that the goods from air-route are more expensive and the loss of government’s revenue is higher from such trend.” Nepal Airlines (NA) staffs get free ticket to go abroad once in a year, the source said, adding that employees go abroad in free ticket and bring some expensive gadgets and goods to evade customs duty.
Similarly, the Department of Customs has also found the trend of importing more quantity of goods than bill issued from the TIA customs along with importing under-invoiced goods. TIA Customs Office has found fraud from importers in daily basis, the source informed.
TIA Customs Office confiscated 524 sets of mobile in December 23 and fixed Rs 1,600,000 tax and fines. In the following day, it raided the import of Rolex watch and collected Rs 500,000 fine from the importers. Similarly, it also confiscated 10 sets of laptops from foreign citizens which were being imported illegally. |
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