‘Old notes being sent abroad by courier’

The customs department said it has detected attempts to send demonetised banknotes of ₹500 and ₹1,000 abroad by courier to get them exchanged later.

After these high denomination notes were taken out of circulation by the government in November last, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) were given a window till June 30 to get them exchanged.

Citizens who were in the country at that time were allowed to deposit old notes till December 30, 2016.

Customs officials have registered a few cases where demonetised banknotes were sent abroad by courier and seized more than ₹1 lakh in such notes, a senior official said on Sunday.

People were found trying to send the old notes abroad by falsely declaring them as articles such as books, he said.

“The aim could be to take help of their relatives or friends abroad to get the old notes exchanged with the new ones,” the official said.

In two cases, couriers were booked from Punjab for Australia and the content inside them were declared as book.

The customs official, who are keeping an eye on outbound parcels at foreign post office here, found them having demonetised notes.

Similar consignments were booked for Korea and the United Arab Emirates containing the defunct notes.