Ahmedabad: A man travelling to Bangkok was detained at Ahmedabad airport on Jan 13 after customs officials recovered a large amount of undeclared foreign currency from his baggage. The passenger was intercepted based on specific intelligence gathered by the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the customs department.This was the third major seizure by customs officials within two days. Earlier, two other passengers were caught attempting to smuggle foreign currency.“Upon examination, the said pax was found to have concealed 100 currency notes of USD valued at Rs 8.91 lakh, 214 currency notes of pounds (denomination of 50) valued at Rs 12.73 lakh, and 858 currency notes of pounds (denomination of 20) valued at Rs 20.42 lakh. Thus, a total of 1,172 foreign currency notes were seized, valued at Rs 42.06 lakh, from his baggage,” stated a release by the customs department.Sources said the currency was not declared before the customs authorities, constituting a violation of the Customs Act and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The currency was seized under the provisions of the Customs Act, and further investigation is underway, sources added.
