Foreign currencies seized from passengers at Chennai airport

CHENNAI: Customs officials at

Chennai airport

on Friday seized

foreign currencies

to the tune of Rs 1.04 crore from six

passengers

and arrested one of them.

The officials maintained strict vigil, based on intelligence that foreign currencies were likely to be smuggled out of India by passengers bound for Dubai in an IndiGo flight (6E 65).

Mansoor Ali Khan, 27, Yakalik ,68, Thameem Ansari,49, Mohamad Hussain,30, and Yousuf,67, all of Chennai, and Abdul Rahman,38, of Pudur were intercepted after they had cleared immigration and were proceeding towards security hold area.

When their personal search as well as their hand baggage and backpacks were searched, many power banks were found. The power banks appeared to be heavy. They were broken with a hammer, and foreign currency notes were recovered from them. Notes were recovered from the pockets of their backpacks too.

US $74000 (in the denominations $100) Rs 53.5 lakhs, 150000 Saudi riyals (in the denomination 500) worth Rs.28.3 lakh and 25000 euros (in the denomination of 200) worth Rs.22.2 lakhs were recovered and seized under the Customs Act read with Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of currency) Regulations, 2015.

Thameem Ansari -- from whom foreign currencies worth more than Rs 20 lakh were seized -- was arrested.