Customs on Friday recovered foreign currency notes worth over Rs 10 crores from three Tajikistan nationals at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. Customs have termed it as their 'Biggest-ever seizure'. As per officials, the accused were caught while they were trying to board a flight that was headed towards Istanbul. "On the basis of profiling, the officers of Airport Customs, IGI Airport, Terminal-3, New Delhi have booked the biggest-ever case of smuggling of foreign currency through any airport in India on 21 July against three C," said the department in a statement on Saturday.
The statement added, "These passengers were intended to depart for Istanbul by Flight No. TK 0717 dated 21 July from T3, IGI Airport, New Delhi."
While adding that further investigation into the matter is underway, the statement read, "The detailed examination of the baggage and personal search of the passengers resulted in the recovery of foreign currency (USD 7,20,000/- & Euro 4,66,200/-) from the three passengers which is equivalent to Rs 10,06,78,410," it said. "The recovered foreign currency has been seized under section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962."
In another incident this month, Hyderabad customs officials seized smuggled gold weighing 1.93 kg valued at Rs 1.17 crore and over 62,000 cigarette sticks in separate cases at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), PTI reported. In the first case, customs officials seized 1,399 grams of smuggled gold in the form of bars, valued at Rs 84.8 lakh, from a passenger arriving from Dubai. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the gold was intended to be taken out of the airport by an airport staff member. Customs authorities have arrested both the individuals involved.
In the second case, 527 grams of smuggled gold worth Rs 31.8 lakh was recovered from a passenger arriving from Jeddah. The gold, in the form of capsules, was concealed in the person's rectum. "The gold was concealed in the rectum of the person in the form of two capsules. We also seized 62,400 smuggled cigarette sticks from two passengers who arrived from Bangkok and Dubai," said the official.