WC trophy with customs for want of documents

The women’s world cup trophy, which was detained by the airport customs on Monday, is still in their custody as both International Cricket Council (ICC) and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials have not showed the documents required, a senior customs officer said.

However, ICC spokesperson Collin Gibson had claimed that the custom officials were shown the documents.

According to the customs, ICC officials had produced a BCCI-issued letter, which said that the trophy should be handed over after being cleared by the customs.

“The BCCI does not have authority to decide which goods can be cleared without paying duty or the required documents. They need to provide a letter with approval from the Government of India to take the trophy without paying the duty,” a senior custom officer said. The letter had been sent to the additional commissioner of customs.

Custom officials are evaluating the trophy’s value and if ICC fails to provide the GoI letter, they will either have to pay the duty or get it back while going back to Dubai.

Such items should not be carried in baggage and allegedly, the officials had tried to go through the green channel without the clearance from customs. Customs may also book the case for this as well.

The trophy had been brought from Dubai to promote the event Mumbai is hosting early next year.