Kathmandu, November 8
The customs office at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu has fined Nepal Tourism Board CEO Dhananjay Regmi Rs 5,000 on the charge of misbehaving with customs staff under the influence of alcohol.
Regmi, however, says the staff instead treated him with disrespect and framed him with a false charge.
On Saturday, Regmi was returning from the World Travel Market held in London. Mahesh Bhattarai, the chief of the TIA Customs Office says one person has been fined for misbehaving with the staff that day.
Customs sources say Regmi had six bottles of liquors in his bag although a traveller is allowed to carry only one bottle duty-free. As they stopped him, Regmi pushed a staffer. They say he was drunk upon arrival.
But, Regmi says five of the six bottles belonged to other NTB staff members and he was accused of misbehaviour as he raised concerns over the rude behaviours of the airport staff.
“When a person like the tourism board CEO gets punished without an opportunity to clarify,” he says, “What can be the level of suffering that tourists and other general people face there every day?”
