Digital extortion at Mumbai airport: 20 officials transferred before annual purge

Mumbai: Cracking the whip on the digital extortion racket at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport by men in white, 20 Customs superintendents from the rummaging, intelligence and air cargo departments and zone 1 were transferred on Monday just before the imminent annual general transfers.

A senior Customs official told the Free Press Journal, “A rigorous exercise has been undertaken to clean up the department with officers of high integrity selected from other units and zones to be posted at Mumbai airport.” He said the new officials were picked after thorough background checks.

Customs department plagued with cases of digital extortion cases

Stung by a series of FPJ reports exposing rampant extortion and corruption at the airport, Customs Principal Commissioner had in March ordered immediate discharge of all 38 frontline officers at the international airport and reporting back to the New Customs House to their respective cadres.

The Customs department at Mumbai airport has been plagued with rampant cases of digital extortion of passengers by front line officers using Gpay accounts of loaders for collections on the pretext of fake cases of gold smuggling. 

The CBI has registered 13 cases in the last 60 days against several officials on the basis of a digital trail of flight tickets and hotel bookings made for top officials from the criminal racket. In many cases, officials also threatened passengers with cases for carrying used items.

Collected ₹1.2 crores in 6 months

The digital footprint and forensic audit of arrested Customs Superintendent Kumar Alok led the CBI to the Gpay account of baggage loader Prakash Ambede. The interrogation of Ambede and another official further led the agency to eight baggage loaders, who in six months collectively received more than ₹1.2 crore in their bank accounts linked to Gpay. They had further transferred the extorted money to freight forwarder and Customs collection agent Deepak Parekh.