Foreign currency and gold seized at int’l airport

Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) have arrested a passenger, Sayyed Rahman Ali (35), at Mumbai International Airport and recovered two bundles of US $5,000 concealed in each of the socks he was wearing. Ali had also concealed assorted foreign currency wrapped in plastic sheet inside his trolley bag.

Ali was arrested from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), Mumbai on April 30 when he was about to depart to Sharjah by Air India Express flight number IX 251.

“Ali is the resident of Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. The assorted foreign currency equivalent to Rs 44.18 lakh were recovered from the possession of Ali. All the recovered foreign currency was seized under the reasonable belief that the same were attempted to be smuggled out of India and hence liable to confiscation under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962. Ali, in his statement, has admitted the possession, carriage, concealment and recovery of the above said foreign currency under seizure for smuggling out of India and in contravention of the provisions of the Customs Act,1962 read with FEMA, 2000,” said a senior officer from AIU, Mumbai.

Ali has told AIU officials that the foreign currency belongs to someone called Salim who is based in Dubai.

“He is a graduate in commerce from Mangalore University and has a printing business in Sharjah by the name Sahara Printing and Publishing. He presently resides in Sharjah. He landed in Mumbai on April 30 morning by Air India Express flight number IX 252,” said the officer.

Also, gold smuggler Rahul Premchandani (28), a resident of Jaripatka, Nagpur who arrived from Dubai by Indigo flight number 6E 62, was intercepted at CSIA. He was found carrying a gold chain weighing 350 gm valued at Rs 10.50 lakh concealed on his body.

Customs official said Premchandani owns a travel company, Rahul Tour and Travelling in Nagpur.

He was earlier booked by AIU in a smuggling case of assorted foreign currency equivalent to Rs 11.96 lakh in 2015 at CSIA.