NEW DELHI: In a major recovery of illegal money, customs officials at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) recovered Rs10 million in cash in 16 currencies.
The money was seized from an Afghan national who was going to Dubai. The officials are interrogating him to know the trail of money. More arrests are likely to follow. “We had an input and passengers going to the Gulf were on our radar.
An Afghan, who was going to Dubai, was intercepted at the departure hall. On examining his baggage, foreign currency of different denominations equivalent to Rs1.03 crore was recovered,” said a senior customs official.
Sources said the Afghan, whose name the Customs department refused to reveal, had wrapped the currency in his clothes in the hand baggage. “Some of the currencies are the Canadian dollar, pound, Norway’s Krone, Swiss franc and Dubai’s Dirham,” the official added.
“We suspect he was just a carrier and real culprits are based in Delhi and Dubai. We have got some clues about his contact in Delhi and more arrests will be made soon,” the official said.
The Afghan has reportedly told his interrogators that he was asked not to book his return ticket for Afghanistan and stay in Dubai.