Now, ED to quiz scotch smugglers

Two days after two Customs Department drivers were arrested by the State Excise Department, for smuggling out 60 bottles of scotch from the ITDC run duty-free store at the international airport, officials on Friday questioned the Health Officer at the airport, AK Pande and two  ITDC employees Bhupendra Bahadur and Anil Kumar regarding their role in the racket. Till late in the evening Customs officials were yet to arrest the accused persons but had exhaustively questioned the five.

Close on the heels of the Customs Department, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also set to question the accused. An ED official told DNA: “While the Customs is looking at the duty evasion aspect of the case, we will focus on the persons who made the dollar payments to the duty-free store, while purchasing the bottles to be smuggled out of the airport premises. We believe the names of bona fide passengers, mostly flying out of India, were used by the gang involved in the racket. However, now those involved will have to explain how they made the payments as duty free shops only accept foreign currency.”

Customs drivers — SS Jadhav and Mukund Atkare — were nabbed by State Excise Department officials after a specific tip-off on Wednesday.