Aishwarya Rai

The Customs Department is going to approach their counterparts in Netherlands about the mysterious parcel that arrived in Mumbai on the name of actor Aishwarya Rai.

The case has become complicated for the Customs department in Mumbai as Rai and her lawyer have refused any knowledge about the parcel and sender, whose name was mentioned in the documents as Avineshwar.

A senior Customs officer said that the department here would seek cooperation from their counterparts in tracing Avineshwar and confirming his address as mentioned in the parcel.

The officer said that help could easily be sought from Netherlands as it is a member of World Customs Organisation (WCO) like india. “Hence there is an obligation on their part to help us,” said the officer.

About the procedure, he said that the letter to this effect would be routed through the Directorate of Revenue intelligence (DRi) to the indian embassy in Netherlands which would then forward it to the Customs department in Rotterdam.

However, the process is likely to take a long time and the department here would have to wait for the information. “Sometimes such process takes upto six months,” the officer said.

Another senior Customs officer, however, said that from their side they are also trying to find out links and other details of Avineshwar in india. He is said to be an event manager. “We are using our intelligence to gather information on him,” the officer said.

Commissioner of Customs, import, AK Prasad refused to meet and talk saying (through his staff) that he was too busy as Chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs is coming to Mumbai, on Friday, for a pre-budget meet.