Customs vs Security
There was a time when the men in white – the Customs officers used to lord it over the airports – all over the world. These officers used to think that the entire airport including the precincts thereof, was under their control and not a thing should move in or out without their permission. But terrorism taking over, has changed all that. Today the primary concern in an airport is security. Tension runs very high when a CISF jawan would not allow a Customs Commissioner to enter the airport. Some such thing happened in Sri Lanka’s Bandaranaike International Airport at Colombo a couple of days ago. A security officer is said to have attacked a Customs officer. Obviously the Sri Lankan Customs officer is not as soft as his Indian counterpart – The Customs department went on a two day strike. Result - Around 3000 containers held up in Colombo harbour; price hikes on some essential food items in the Colombo wholesale market.