Customs official accused of assaulting passenger at Mangalore airport

Customs official accused of assaulting passenger at Mangalore airport

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Aug 22, 2013 :  In an incident reported on August 20, Tuesday, a customs official reportedly assaulted a passenger who arrived by an Air  India flight from Muscat at 7.30 pm.

Reports state that the passenger was assaulted in  a locked  room. According to the passenger named  Ismail(24),  he was intercepted by the customs officials on the grounds that he was carrying gold  illegally. Ismail who hailed from Santosh Nagar in Munnur worked as a sales man in Muscat since three years.

 

However Ismail says that he  had a set of three gold bangles  with the purchase receipt and that  the gold weighed 35.51 grams. But the officials who detained him slapped a penalty of Rs 10,000 and also seized his passport.

 

However, when Ismail refused to oblige they reportedly  reduced the fine amount to Rs 5000. But when Ismail still failed to oblige they reportedly took him to a closed room where a customs official in mufti assaulted him and he was subsequently released at 10 pm. All his belongings  were returned.

The passenger was admitted to the SCS Hospital and  later lodged a complaint at Kadri police station.

Meanwhile, an airport official  said he was not aware of  the assault. He  said  some people create confusion when there is a rush and the seven to eight airport officials have to manage around 170 passengers who alight from a flight.

  In the case of Ismail, he said he refused to  oblige when asked to pay duty of the government and was therefore detained.