Singer Mika Singh is no stranger to controversies. If not through his actions, Singh ensures that his words are explosive enough to make headlines and capture public attention. On one occasion, he even went so far as to share a social media post claiming he was returning to India with $2 lakh, openly challenging Customs officials to stop him if they dared. He apparently did this out of anger after officials allegedly stopped him and his team for carrying foreign currency beyond the permissible limit.
“Sameer Wankhede (an officer in the Indian Revenue Service – Customs & Indirect Taxes) — he is my good friend now — stopped me once. The members of my band were also with me. At that time, each person was allowed to carry $1,000. Now, I think, the permissible limit is $10,000. After stopping us, he said we can’t carry that money. I got angry hearing that, and he asked me to sit and cool down. Meanwhile, outside, news had spread that I had been detained. I hadn’t even heard that word before. I was so sad,” he recalled during a chat with Shubhankar Mishra on his YouTube channel.
Mika said that since he was quite upset with this, he decided to post a tweet in jest declaring that he was entering the country with $2 lakh, and as expected, Mika saw an entire team of officials as soon as he landed. He shared, “I became very angry, particularly since I used to do a lot of shows for the Customs department. Then, I tweeted saying, ‘I am coming with USD 2 lakh; catch me if you can!’ When I landed at the airport, I saw the entire place packed with officials as if Dawood Ibrahim was about to step out wearing gold around the neck.”
Mika said that he didn’t think much before posting the tweet. When he landed, he asked the officials if they saw him as an “idiot” who would actually do that. “I posted it without giving it much thought. Anyway, I was stopped and taken aside. I asked them, ‘What did you guys think that I would actually bring USD 2 lakh with me? I am not some idiot. You believe whatever I say? I was just joking.’ Nonetheless, I had two bottles of premium scotch whisky with me. They imposed customs duty on that instead,” he said.
