Foreign currency worth Rs 85 lakh, gold seized at Chennai airport

According to a release, Commissioner of Customs Air Intelligence Unit detected three cases of smuggling of foreign currencies and gold on Sunday morning.

 In the first case, one person identified as Kalimuthu Natesaperumal (51), who was scheduled to travel to Singapore, was intercepted by Air Intelligence Unit at the international terminal.

The officers found that he was carrying Euro 66300, US $ 32770, Singapore dollars 1600 and Brunei dollars 2650 totally valued about Rs 77 lakh after examining his baggage. The currencies were seized under the Customs Act 1962, the release said. The officers also seized Rs 4.6 lakh from his jacket pocket. He was arrested by the Custom officials, the release further added.

In the second case of foreign exchange seizure, US $ 5000 worth Rs 3.5 lakh was seized from a passenger bound to Colombo. The accused identified as a 43-year-old passenger, hailing from Kayalpattinam in Tirunelveli. He was intercepted and US $ 5000 worth Rs 3.5 lakh was seized from his hand luggage, the release added.

Golden hair clips seized: In another operation, the Customs officials seized 148 gm of undeclared gold from a passenger named Shaik Shafi Ahamed (39), who arrived from Kuwait. The passenger was intercepted and found carrying 10 gold strips that were copper colour coated.

He had concealed them by fixing within hair clips. The gold weighed 148 grams and was valued at Rs 4.5 lakh. The strips were seized under Customs Act, the release said.