Mimtaz
Yesterday, reports did rounds that Shah Rukh Khan was stopped at the Mumbai airport after attending Sharjah Book Fair in the United Arab Emirates.
It was also said that the superstar also had to pay a penalty of Rs 6.83 lakhs in customs duty.
Reports claimed that SRK and his team had been detained over some dutiable items – a Rs 75k Apple iWatch along with 6 empty cases of high-end watches – worth Rs. 17.86 lakhs allegedly.
However, the latest report suggest that SRK was NOT stopped at Mumbai airport. As reported by ANI, not SRK but his bodyguard Ravi Shankar Singh had paid the amount. A senior customs officer told ETimes –
“Shah Rukh Khan and his team were asked to pay duty for goods they were carrying. There was no penalty or interception as is being reported by the media. Everything being said on social media with regards to this case is a factual mismatch.”
“SRK and his team arrived at the GA terminal at around 12.30 pm. Unlike the T2, where there are different colour-coded channels for different types of passengers and their duty related screenings, the GA terminal has no separate classifications. So the entire team was carrying 6-7 bags which were screened by security and they had several watch winders (specialised cases used for luxury watches) and one Apple watch, which they didn’t have receipts for, as they declared these were gifts. We searched for the value of these items on the internet and we determined everything put together was worth Rs 17.86 lakhs.”
“Then, Ravi Singh, who is from SRK’s security team (Ravi is Shah Rukh Khan’s trusted bodyguard) was escorted with one bag, which had the goods for payment of duty along with one customs officer to Terminal 2. Over there, Ravi paid the customs duty of Rs 6.88 lakhs (calculated as per the customs duty of 38.5 percent).”
“This process should not have been labelled as an interception because these interceptions happen on T2, where there is a large volume of passengers. In fact, after this incident, airport and customs authorities are now contemplating installing duty services and personnel at the GA terminal as well, to avoid such confusion in the future,” the officer added.
