Originally Posted by oliver2002
Strange that the indian security is still desparate to take away batteries (this came up after lockerbie in the late 80s) but our TSA friends have somehow missed that trend...
The batteries being taken away by airport security in India was there for several years and then faded away only to come back again. (It really was a dog and pony show too as it was rather easy to circumvent.)
Some "geniuses" in the Indian "security" establishment were trying to peddle a ban against pens and cell phones somewhat more recently too (i.e., within the last 24 months). That was in relation to so-called "pen guns and cell phone guns". Nothing came of that, or we'd soon be separated from our pens and cell phones too.
For a while in the 1990s, a handful of routes in India (including four that I fly) had near complete carry-on bans. In India, you really can see it all.
While I don't advise it, there are at least two ways to exceed the duty free allowance a bit and not pay duty, including once receiving them on board putting the duty free allowance in one carry-on and pulling out a duffel bag or backpack from the carry-on in which to put the "excess" that by itself would not exceed the duty free allowance either. At DEL, in the rare circumstances that they would catch this, the worst that would happen is having the "excess" taken away or paying duty on it. DEL customs is much more concerned about harder core drugs and weapons coming in than an extra bottle of alcohol (and that effort against drugs, weapons, etc. is mostly directed toward checked luggage and cargo).