RIYADH: A police probe into the seizure of a satellite phone from a Saudi national at the Cochin International airport last week has pointed to a possible lapse by the Customs wing.
“The customs sleuths should have confiscated the sat phone when Al Fahad Sultan, the Saudi national landed here from Riyadh last month. We will also be verifying how the gadget escaped the baggage screening by the Customs sleuths’’, said M.K. Murali, Circle Inspector, Nedumbassery, the investigating officer.
When contacted, Customs sources conceded the possibility but maintained that it was impossible for them to find out such equipment in the absence of a suspicion, declaration or specific intelligence. “Given the acute staff shortage that we are experiencing currently, it is impossible for us to physically inspect all the baggage passing through the airport here. The official on duty could have mistaken it for cell phone during x-ray screening’’, said a top customs officer in Kochi.
The police have verified with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Department of Telecom that Mr. Sultan did not have a no-objection certificate for using the phone in India. They, however, are yet to confirm whether he had made any calls using it during his 21-day stay in Kerala and have sent the gadget for a scientific examination at the State Forensic Science Laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram.
A Central Board of Excise and Customs notification, issued on September 24, 2010, had stated that unauthorised use of satellite phone in India would attract legal action under Sections-20 and 21 of the Telegraph Act – 1885.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the Saudi national, who is into crude oil business, came here on a tourist visa for ayurvedic treatment. “Sultan runs a business establishment in Riyadh and has four to five Keralites working under him. He arranged for an ayurvedic treatment programme at a hospital near Kayamkulam through one of his employees and landed in Nedumbassery on December 16 last’’, officials added.
Meanwhile, police said the Saudi Arabian consulate officials had begun attempts to help Mr. Sultan secure bail. He is currently lodged at the Aluva sub-jail.
The Saudi Arabian national was arrested from the Cochin International Airport last week while attempting to board a flight to Riyadh. The CISF detained him after they found a satellite phone in his baggage and later handed him over to the local police.
