Mumbai, June 29 -- The Sahar police have arrested a 49-year-old taxi driver for allegedly extorting money from passengers travelling from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport to other parts of the city. The accused driver, Warisali Sayuddin Shaikh, was arrested on Thursday after he allegedly threatened police officers posing as decoy customers with dire consequences if they did not pay an inflated fare for their journey to Borivali, police officers familiar with the case told HT. The action against the accused driver was part of a special operation by the Sahar police to fish out extortionist taxi and auto drivers demanding exorbitant fares from unsuspecting passengers. The operation was launched after a woman traveller from the United States was fleeced of $200 (around Rs.18,000) by a cab driver on January 12 this year, for a 400-metre drive from the airport to her hotel. As reported by HT on January 30, the driver linked to the incident was arrested and his vehicle seized. In the latest incident, on June 25, driver Warisali Sayuddin Shaikh initially told two police constables posing as customers that the fare from the airport to Borivali would be Rs.550. But along the way, he demanded Rs.800 from them and threatened them. Devidas Sonawane, 56, one of the two constables, said in his complaint that as per orders to take legal action against drivers charging excessive rates from passengers, he and police constable Akshay Borate were waiting on the opposite side of the exit lane from the airport, near the Hyatt hotel signal, inquiring about an auto or taxi to travel to Borivali. They were accompanied by two witnesses - Avnish Tiwari, 19, and Siddhesh Khedekar, 19. "A taxi driver approached us and said, 'Aapko kidar jaane ka hai, idhar aaoo (Where you want to go, come here)'. At that time, I told him that we wanted to go to Borivali. He said the fare would be Rs.550, but while we were on the way, he demanded Rs.800 as the fare. When we questioned him about the escalation, he threatened us with dire consequences and warned us to remain seated if we did not want any trouble," Sonawane said in his complaint. A team following the taxi stopped the vehicle after receiving a signal from Sonawane and arrested Shaikh and sent his driving licence for suspension. Errant drivers such as Shaikh are being booked for extortion, in addition to cheating, to curb the menace of drivers fleecing passengers leaving the airport....