CBI raids houses of Customs officials

Kochi, Oct 19: The CBI raided the houses of six senior customs officials here early this morning after catching some officials red handed with unaccounted foreign currency in a surprise search at the Nedumbassery International Airport near here.

CBI Superintendent of Police T Vikram said the raids at the Airport were conducted since late last evening after the agency received several complaints from passengers about harassment by customs officials.

He said the CBI had mounted a ten-day CCTV surveillance of the airport area with the help of CISF personnel. On the basis of the video-taped recordings which showed customs officials extorting money from passengers, a case had been registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the raids were mounted.

Mr Vikram said the CBI sleuths caught five customs officials -- one superintendent, one inspector and three havildars -- with unaccounted foreign currency amounting to 300 US Dollars, 250 Dirhams and Rs 10,000.

Since early this morning, the houses of six customs officials of the ranks of superintendent and inspector had been searched by the CBI officials. The details of the searches were awaited, he said.

UNI