• I Paid A Bribe
• 14 years ago
• 3421 views

Paid money to enter my country...

• Customs, Excise and Service Tax
• Customs Check and Clearance
• Paid INR 5,000

I was travelling from US. I went a little berserk and managed to bring back clothing and shoes for myself and family in a total of 6 checkin bags. As expected, we were stopped at Customs. They did not bother to scan, just opened our bags and started looting stuff from us. We had no choice but to offer a couple of bags of choclates (~$60-80) and pay up close to $100 even though there were no dutiable goods. It was pathetic to see a foreigner being harassed, they were making fun of his clothes and were demanding $500 from him for his own stuff. Sad state of affairs. Having said this, I am now pleasantly surprised when I enter our country, the officials are polite and hardly any harrassment takes place. Stealing still happens with the baggage handlers though.