Moroccan academic Ahmed El Frak revealed that he was asked to pay costs to receive his books, for which the publisher of his latest work had already paid the shipping receipt from the publishing house's headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey, to the city of Tetouan, where he works, via Mohammed V International Airport in Casablanca.
In a statement to the electronic newspaper Hespress, academic Ahmed El Frak said: "The new book was printed at a press in Istanbul, and after a delay in receiving it, I contacted the publishing house to send me some copies, which they did. The house informed me that 20 copies would reach me, after they had paid for their transport from Istanbul to Tetouan; what happened was that a person from the airport, from a transport company, called me and told me that I had to come from Tetouan to Casablanca to pay the fee for receiving them, which he called (customs duty)."
El Frak continued: "I confirmed with him whether the publishing house had paid the shipping cost, and he said that the publisher had paid the receipt to Tetouan, but despite that, a fee must be paid to receive them, along with a payment of 250 dirhams for every day of delay in coming to collect them."
The Moroccan writer's response was: "I am an author, not a merchant, so I will not pay customs duty," and he subsequently gave up on receiving copies of his new book, as he told Hespress.
It should be noted that a source from the National Airports Office told Hespress that "airports are not responsible for any fees on books or other items; their determination is linked to the Customs Administration, and we have no knowledge of any updates related to them."
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