Int'l passengers suffer as Chennai airport customs restricts carrying sweets

CHENNAI: The passengers suffer as Chennai airport customs are not allowing the International passengers to carry sweets with them in the luggage.

Last week four passengers came to the Chennai airport to board a flight to Bangkok. The customs officials during the check found that the passengers were carrying sweet boxes with them and the officials reportedly told the passengers that they could not allow sweets inside the flight.

The passengers tried explaining to the officials that they were taking the sweets from Chennai following the festival season but the officials did not allow the passengers to carry the sweets and later they cancelled the tickets.

However, the four passengers travelled to Mumbai from Chennai on a domestic flight and from there they went to Bangkok and the Mumbai customs did not stop them from carrying the sweet boxes.

Similarly, the Chennai airport customs are not allowing the passengers who are travelling to Sri Lanka to carry night dresses and cotton sarees with them.

Usually, the relatives of Sri Lankan people would take dresses and cotton sarees in bulk from Chennai during the festival season. Now the customs are not allowing the passengers to take the brand new clothes with them to Sri Lanka.

Following these incidents International passengers are travelling to Bangalore, Kochi, and Thiruvananthapuram and from there they are travelling as International passengers. The passengers said that Customs rules are common for all the airports but here in Chennai, the officials are changing the rules as they wish.

However, when contacted Chennai airport customs, officials said that they are only following the norms of the government here in the airport and they have no idea about the norms followed by other airports in the country.