Two held with foreign notes worth ₹1.3 crore

Currency hidden in hotboxes with food at Pune airport

August 08, 2017 11:48 pm | Updated 11:48 pm IST - Pune

Stashed away:  Foreign currency, which was concealed beneath the steel casing of four casseroles, on display after being seized at Pune airport on Tuesday.

Stashed away: Foreign currency, which was concealed beneath the steel casing of four casseroles, on display after being seized at Pune airport on Tuesday.

Two passengers travelling to Dubai were arrested on Tuesday for attempting to smuggle foreign currency worth ₹1.30 crore by concealing them in hotboxes containing food at Pune airport.

According to Customs authorities, an immigration officer at the airport during passenger profiling found the documents of a man identified as Nishant Vijay Yetam to be suspicious. Yetam, a resident of Nagothane in Raigad, was travelling to Dubai on Air India flight IX 211. Immigration personnel also raised suspicions about another passenger, Harsha Ranglani Raju, who was booked on the same flight. Officials then apprehended Raju, a resident of Chembur in Mumbai.

Following a personal search and detailed examination of the checked-in baggage of the two passengers, dollar bills amounting to $1,72,000 and euro banknotes totalling €30,000 were recovered. Customs officials confiscated the foreign currency valued at ₹1.30 crore under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.

M.V.S. Choudhary, Pune Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise, said, “Most of the currency was cleverly concealed beneath the steel casing of four casseroles containing food articles. They were kept in the passengers’ checked-in baggage.” Mr. Choudhary said that the notes were seized under reasonable belief that they were being smuggled outside the country.

Yetam and Raju were produced before the chief judicial magistrate and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. Investigation is in progress.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.