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COVER STORY: UZBEK CONNECTION
Customs In The Dock
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MINI TASHKENT: (Left) Uzbeks arrested on charges of smuggling fake drugs operated
from hotels like Yes Please in Delhi
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In a blatant attempt
to hush up the case, the Customs Department approached the high court
after a judge hearing her bail application in the additional sessions
court observed that Olga had a dubious link with the customs officials
and recommended a CBI investigation. It sought to expunge the remarks
made against them and stall the CBI inquiry. The high court granted the
request in November last year.
The respite, however, was shortlived. The matter
came up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha towards the end of November
and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha ordered a two-pronged inquiry: from
the vigilance and smuggling angles. The probe did indeed find the officers
guilty of aiding smuggling from the CIS countries and ordered the suspension
of 42 of them. It didn't happen, perhaps because of Verma's indulgence.
The department was guilty of many more improprieties.
An enterprising first secretary, Uma Suryanarayan Mishra, posted at the
Indian Embassy in Tashkent had provided detailed information on how Uzbeks
and citizens of other CIS countries made frequent trips to India, carrying
items like diamond powder, gold and tungsten wire. They returned with
fake medicines supplied to them at Paharganj hotels. This information
was gathered from visa applicants. Records also showed that the Uzbek
travellers who were being given six-month multi-entry visas were making
as many as 20 trips during the period.
The Olga case is clearly only the tip of the
iceberg; eight other Uzbek women were arrested on charges of smuggling
and prostitution last year. They obviously spread their net wide, as according
to the CBI, 20-40 young women were coming in on each flight from that
region.
In
August last year, the Delhi Police conducted raids on Hotel Saini International
and subsequently on a banquet hall in Rajinder Nagar-a west Delhi locality-and
busted a fake medicine racket. Eight quintals of medicines were recovered
with wrappers printed in both Russian and Uzbek. The medicines, Mishra
pointed out, were being sold with Russian markings to pass them off as
real but the authorities in Uzbekistan had woken up to the truth. Severe
restrictions were imposed at Tashkent airport against import of Indian
pharmaceutical products. "These activities should be monitored and
controlled before they get out of hand," the diplomat wrote in May
2000.
The government-the
Home Ministry and Intelligence Bureau-too was warned about the Uzbek women,
but the letters apparently remained relegated to the files. Copies of
the letters from Tashkent were also forwarded to the Customs Department
and, predictably, ignored. In some cases, they were conveniently backdated.
A memo sent to V.K. Singh Kushwah, additional commissioner, customs and
excise, in February this year-following the internal investigation-points
to this. According to the memo, no circular or alert was issued following
the Tashkent letters and worse, the alerts were "fudged'' and put
out only after Olga's arrest. Kushwah was also asked to explain his decision
regarding the clearing of seven bullet-proof jackets brought by another
CIS national, Louri Lokhov, on June 10, 2000, which the memo says "is
most likely to fall in the hands of anti-social/anti-national elements".
The scandal also highlights another serious
lapse: the Afghans-Mamoor Khan and Del Agha-are absconding. The CBI is
also investigating the possibility of the customs officials having tipped
them off about Olga's arrest. Says a CBI official: "She operated
under the belief that she wouldn't be touched." Some CIS nationals
even stayed for as long as a month at a stretch. Says Vinod Kumar, owner
of Hotel Yes Please, a favourite with Olga: "Till her arrest, CIS
nationals accounted for 60 per cent of my hotel's occupancy."
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PARTNERS IN CRIME: Absconding Afghans Khan (left) and Agha were
Olga's facilitators
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Hotel rooms in Paharganj come cheap, costing
between Rs 150 and Rs 450 a night and are patronised by visiting Uzbeks
and other CIS nationals. This corroborates reports from Tashkent that
young girls, especially from the fields of entertainment and fashion designing,
made as many as 30 trips in six months. This alludes to a well-organised
prostitution racket in and around Delhi.
Visa applicants also revealed that they picked
up jobs as agents for Herbal Life, a brand name that markets food supplements.
One of them, claiming to be a Herbal Life consultant, had an identity
card issued by the company. Photographs of Uzbek women partying and drinking
have been recovered during the raids, pointing to the "hospitality"
showered by the Uzbeks on the right people.
The case is getting its share of attention but
already questions are being asked about why the Government took eight
months to wake up to a scandal that involves national security. Also,
why was Raja chosen to head the investigation when he had himself been
a commissioner, customs, in 1997-about the time the CIS operations began?
Similarly, doubts are also being raised about
the competence of Revenue Intelligence chief M.K. Zutshi to participate
in the investigations since his wife had been the commissioner at the
airport till June 2000. Inconvenient questions that the Government will
have to be prepared to answer.
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