Car giant CEO’s satellite phone seized at airport, let off on German embassy’s word

Petzer Jochen, Chief Executive Officer of a leading car manufacturing company, had come to Chennai for attending a board meeting at a hotel in Velachery on Thursday night. Later, on Friday after the meeting, he was set to board a Singapore Airlines flight, when Customs personnel involved in regular checks found Petzer carrying a satellite phone with him.

Though he argued with officials that while entering India, the Customs on subjecting him to a check had allowed him to carry the phone, the officials detained him and handed him over to the airport police station.

However, following the German embassy’s intervention the police allowed him to proceed with his journey after obtaining a written statement from him and seizing the satellite phone.

The Government of India had declared satellite phones a threat to national security owing to several acts of terrorism. Only security agencies and defence forces can use it legally. To use any sort of satellite phone, permission must be taken from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), sources said.