Actor Shah Rukh Khan and five of his team members were stopped at the General Aviation (GA) Terminal of Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport early Saturday after they landed from Sharjah in a charter flight. They were stopped by the Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs department after some dutiable goods were discovered in their baggage.
In the baggage of the actor and his team, an apple iWatch worth around Rs 75,000 and six other empty cases of high-end watches were found, said a senior customs officer. The officer added that the total value of the dutiable items was Rs. 178,600. Shah Rukh’s representative and his bodyguard Ravi Shankar Singh asked to come to the T2 terminal of Mumbai airport to pay customs duty. He paid Rs 680,000, which is 38.5 per cent of the value of the goods. It was a duty, not a penalty, clarified the senior customs official. Meanwhile, the actor and his team members were allowed to go.
There is no red channel or green channel at the private terminal of Mumbai airport, hence there is no option available for declaring dutiable goods, added the officer. Therefore, it is difficult to ascertain if the actor or his team had any intention of evading duty, hence no penalty was imposed by the customs department.
Shah Rukh was honoured with the Global Icon of Cinema and Cultural Narrative award last week as he attended the 41st edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) 2022 at Expo Centre in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Taking to Twitter, the official page of Sharjah Book Authority shared a video on how the Bollywood actor had ‘inspired the audience’ with his speech. Shah Rukh was seen arriving at the event amid cheers from screaming fans. "He spoke about the fact that the world, and events such as the SIBF, are the cornerstones on which bridges that connect the cultures of the world will be built," the caption read.
On the work front, Shah Rukh will soon be seen with Deepika Padukone and John Abraham in ‘Pathaan’. The action film will be released in January 2023. The actor also has ‘Dunki' with Taapsee Pannu in the pipeline, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, and ‘Jawan’ by Atlee, co-starring Nayanthara.
