Passenger smuggling foreign currency in peanuts caught at IGI airport

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has seized Rs 45 lakh worth of foreign currency hidden in cooked meat pieces, peanuts and sealed biscuit packets from a passenger at Delhi airport, officials said on Wednesday. Five hundred and eight crisp currency notes were recovered from the eatables.

Security personnel arrested Murad Ali, 25, on the basis of his "suspicious" behaviour when he reached Terminal-3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport to board an Air India flight to Dubai.

"On checking the passenger's baggage, foreign currency was found concealed in cooked mutton pieces, peanuts, biscuit packets and other eatables," CISF spokesperson Assistant Inspector General Hemendra Singh said.

A video posted by CISF on Twitter shows security personnel cracking peanuts, unzipping sealed biscuit packets and digging into oily meat pieces to extract an assortment of Saudi Riyal, Qatari Riyal, Kuwaiti Dinar, Omani Riyal and Euro rolled and wrapped neatly inside.

The estimated worth of this seized cache is Rs 45 lakh and the passenger, who had a tourist visa for Dubai, and the currency have been handed over to Customs authorities, the CISF spokesperson said.

The man had made multiple visits to Dubai and other foreign locations in the past, they said.