Nigerian national detained in Coimbatore airport with Rs 58 lakhs

“After questioning him, the officials found 2,668 currencies in the denomination of Rs 2,000 for a total of Rs 53,36,000, as many as 266 new Rs 500 notes for Rs 1.33 lakh and 400 Rs 100 notes for Rs 40,000 in his possession. The IT sleuths also found 174 demonetised Rs 1,000 currencies for Rs 1.74 lakh and 311 demonetised Rs. 500 notes for Rs. 1.55 lakh. 

Inquiries revealed that Tochukwu Chijioke Chukwudebelu (37) was in India from January 2013 and he exported readymade garments from Tirupur. It is learnt that his visa had expired more than a year ago and that the money in his possession was from his business transactions. However, he could not produce supportive documents supporting his claim. Suspecting that he could be engaged in exchanging demonetised currencies for a commission, he was picked for questioning. A few hundred US dollars were also found in his possession. 

Senior city police officers told DTNext that it was likely that he would arrested for overstay in the country after clearance from the immigration officials. Airport sources in New Delhi said Chukwudebelu reached Terminal 1D of the Indira Gandhi International airport at around 2:35 am to board his Indigo flight to  Coimbatore. “He was allowed to travel after information was shared with tax and customs sleuths,” they said.