A man was arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for allegedly attempting to smuggle out $4.5 lakh to Dubai on board a flight from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.
The accused, a resident of north Kabul, was arrested on November 10 when he was about to depart for Dubai. The foreign currency was found concealed in the cavity of a musical instrument — a harmonium.
Seizures so far
“Smuggling of foreign currency from India has seen a spike in the current financial year. Recently, the DRI seized foreign currency equivalent to ₹2 crore at the IGI Airport in Delhi,” said the DRI.
Earlier this year, a man from Afghanistan was arrested by the Kochi Customs Department for allegedly trying to smuggle out foreign currency worth ₹11 crore.
Indian customs has made 167 seizures of foreign currency in the current fiscal till July, with a total value equivalent to nearly ₹54 crore, leading to 73 arrests.
“The value of seizures is more than double as compared to corresponding period in the previous fiscal, wherein currency equivalent to ₹25 crore was seized in 120 cases leading to 36 arrests,” said the DRI.
In 2017-18, value of foreign currency seized was ₹89.7 crore, while it stood at ₹73 crore in 2016-17. The DRI said there was also a spike in the seizure of gold and narcotic drugs this fiscal, also pointing towards a link between the outward smuggling of foreign currency and inward smuggling of gold and narcotic drugs in India.
“Outward cash smuggling is adopted as an alternate to hawala [informal banking], since it saves 3-5% which is deducted as hawala margin. Trend analysis by the DRI officials indicates that Indian airports are being targeted by international crime syndicates for gold and narcotic drugs smuggling and consequently, smuggling of foreign currency in cash,” said the agency.
