KOCHI:In the third foreign currency seizure incident in the last one-and-a-half months, a Thane native was intercepted by the Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs with USD 50,000 at the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL).
The accused person was intercepted on July 27 while boarding a flight to Dubai from the Nedumbassery airport with currency worth Rs 36 lakh.Customs Commissioner Sumit Kumar said the arrested person is part of a currency smuggling racket. He reached here from Mumbai a day before his arrest.
Though the currency could not be detected at the airport’s baggage scanner, he was intercepted during passenger profiling procedure. “The currencies were concealed in the specially made pouches in his trolley by padding it with clothes. While examining the passport, we found the accused was a frequent traveller. On the basis of interrogation and subsequent search, the currency notes were recovered,” Sumit Kumar said.
The investigation by Customs officers revealed the accused had travelled to Dubai for more than 30 times. He had took a flight from the Nedumbassery in January. On other occasions, he travelled from Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Mumbai airports. “He was the part of a racket that smuggled currencies in return for gold from the Gulf countries. We have identified the other persons in the racket,” an officer said.