Originally Posted by
oliver2002
The chalk mark is still in action in CCU, they screen the luggage before it comes to the belt. BOM has the chalk mark last year the (multiple) whiskey bottles I had in the checked luggage for my father were detected and chalk marked. Xray before leaving the baggage area is deployed off and on in BOM&DEL depending on what flights arrive and how greedy the customs gets. They usually go for fleecing the migrant laborers (GCC flights) or the traders (BKK flights).
Interesting. I know this doesn't prove anything, but I have never seen a chalkmark in the new CCU terminal, either on my luggage or anyone else's. There is certainly no X-ray machine for hand luggage between immigration and baggage claim, the way there used to be in the old terminaL. The immigration forms no longer have a tear-off Customs slip, and while the first year or so there was a separate Customs form, now there isn't. Yes, they mainly hassle laborers and couriers. I haven't had any hassle in decades.
Of course, now that Customs is a breeze, there is nothing worth sneaking past Customs. Everything is available in India, maybe a bit more expensive, but not like the good old days when things were unavailable unless your NRI relatives brought it.