ICC takes perpetual World Cup trophy back to Dubai

After a week of its detention, the International Cricket Council (ICC) took the World Cup perpetual trophy back to Dubai on Thursday night.

After a week of its detention, the International Cricket Council (ICC) took the World Cup perpetual trophy back to Dubai on Thursday night.

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ICC representatives took the trophy around 8pm. The ICC was not required to pay any duty to take the trophy back, because rules permit re-export of legitimate goods on which duty was not paid.

The Customs department had detained the trophy on April 1 at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport after ICC representatives brought it from Colombo. Customs had pegged the value of the trophy at Rs60 lakh and determined the duty at Rs22 lakh.

However, the ICC refused to pay the duty saying it was the perpetual trophy and they would take it back to Dubai while returning after the tournament got over.

But the trophy remained in the arrival warehouse because nobody from the ICC collected it. Customs shifted the trophy to the departure warehouse on April 4 after the ICC announced that they would take the trophy back on the same night.

But Customs got a letter from ICC on Wednesday saying that the trophy would be collected on Thursday.

“We are relieved, because protecting the trophy was a big task for us,” a Customs official said requesting anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.