- I Paid A Bribe
- 11 years ago
- 1763 views
Had to pay at Mumbai airport for apple products.
- Airports
- Excess Baggage
- Paid INR 3,000
I had bought apple phone and iPad from USA to gift my relatives for their wedding on my two weeks trip to India. At the customs, I was told by the officer that the import duty would be 12,000 Rs based on the Indian price of the products. I produced the invoice and argued that the duty should be on the actual price of the product and not the price in India. He showed some listing with the products and their Indian price.
My original flight was delayed and I had been travelling for more than 48 hours. My checked in luggage was missing and I was exhausted. So, I agreed to pay the import duty. Since, I didn't have the cash, he asked me to get it from ATM near his counter. The ATM machine declined and I had to go back to him where he asked me to pay 5000 Rs which I didn't have. I asked him for the process to pay the taxes later but he said I would need to collect the items later after paying taxes. Again, not knowing the exact rules, I had agreed to pay 60 USD that I had since I had a connecting flight and wedding to attend. Coming back for the items was not an option. The officer asked a police constable to take me to a adjoining room where he took the bribe as there were officials looking keeping an eye on the customs officers.
Unfortunately, in such cases, lack of knowledge of the rules hurts the people who want to abide by the law. This seems to be common thread on all related posts. Any comments on how I could have tackled this better are welcome.