Smuggling wares on display at Alfandega, Goa

Housed in the Blue Building, a heritage structure built-in 1800 in Panaji, Goa, is the first Customs and Excise Museum in India. The two-story building got its ‘blue’name from indigo, the dye the Portuguese traded in from here. The building was the Portuguese headquarters of the Alfandega, the Portuguese term for customs administration. It continued to be the Indian headquarters of excise and customs till 2002, several years after Goa was liberated from Portuguese rule in 1961. When it moved to new premises, the heritage building was converted into a museum. On display are some rare items seized from pirates and smugglers.