A racket involving officials of the Customs, Central Excise as well as the city-based Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, who allegedly sold duty-free liquor outside the airport in Hyderabad, was busted recently with the arrest of two Customs officials.
“Based on specific information, surprise checks and raids were conducted last night and in the early hours today at the residences of various Customs and Central Excise personnel and certain civilians on the charge of selling of duty-free liquor in collusion with the airport and Customs officials,” a senior officer said.
“During the raids conducted so far, 266 bottles of duty-free liquor have been recovered from the multiple premises. Raids are still going on with the teams of the department, at various suspected places,” the officer said.
The questioning revealed that it is a well-organised racket with almost 150 to 200 bottles being taken out every day by scanning passports and air tickets of unsuspecting passengers, the officer said.