Kuruvis pick up fight with officials at airport

Feb. 8: The scuffle between 17 kuruvis (digital goods dealers) and Customs officials over the customs duty for electronic goods created tense moments for the CISF and the airport police at Chennai airport on Sunday night. The incident delayed customs ground services for several hours.
A group of 17 digital goods dealers who reached Chennai airport on Sunday night from Singapore were found carrying large number of electronic equipment.
On interrogation, customs officials found that all of them were travelling as a group from Singapore, importing electronic equipment and computer parts, evading customs duty.
“When the officials demanded that they pay 80 per cent customs duty and penalty, they refused to pay the amount and protestes in front of the customs counter, delaying customs clearance operations of other international passengers. As the kuruvis blocked the customs operations, senior CISF personnel had to come to resume the operations,” said an airport official.
All of them left the airport after paying customs duty and penalty amounting not less than Rs 34 lakh.