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SMEETA MISHRA PANDEY
NEW DELHI, FEB 24: Yesterday was the day Scotch flowed on the streets. When a group of Customs officials walked into ITDC's duty-free warehouse at the basement of Centaur Hotel at around 5 pm to destroy damaged bottles of foreign liquor, those who happened to witness it, got a chance to take home a bottle or two.
An eyewitness told The Indian Express: ``When we heard a lot of noise coming from the ITDC godown, we rushed down. We saw some people breaking expensive liquor bottles. I could not bear the sight. I asked the officials if I could take three bottles. When the official nodded, I picked three Black Label bottles and rushed out.''
Soon, word spread and there was a near stampede for bottles. ``People rushed to the basement from all floors of the hotel. The customs officials had already destroyed 1,000-odd bottles. We did not let them destroy the rest. It is not everyday that one gets Scotch free,'' a Centaur hotel staffer said.
The Customs officials looked confused and did not know how tomanage the situation. Vice-president of the duty-free shop in Delhi, Chandni Luthra said: ``The customs officials were destroying bottles that had been damaged in '93-94, when the warehouse had been flooded with rain water. According to customs regulations, we cannot sell damaged bottles at our duty-free shops at the airport.''
She added that it was the duty of the officials to see that no one makes good with the bottles.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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