Acting on a complaint filed by the Himalayan Hospitality and Tourism Development Network (HHTDN), police have arrested three locals of the Fulbari area in Siliguri for allegedly extorting money from tourist vehicles.
Executive committee member of the HHTDN, Tushar Ghosh, whose guests arrived from Bangladesh via the Fulbari border yesterday, filed the complaint with the police after the miscreants demanded money from their vehicle.
According to Mr Tushar Ghosh, the incident took place at the Fulbari Border Check-Post area when he had gone to receive the 25 tourists coming from Bangladesh.
“After the completion of the immigration and customs procedure, we were about to board our bus when three to four lads showed up and started asking for money from our driver as syndicate charges, the payment of which, according to them, was a common practice for any tourist vehicle which had to pick up tourists at the Fulbari area. “I told them that I am a travel agent and own hotels in Gangtok, Darjeeling and Siliguri, but have never come across any such thing,” Mr Ghosh said.