Hyderabad: Three persons from the city who were planning to leave the country and smuggle foreign currency, were arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials during the wee hours on Wednesday.
The officials seized about $1.38 lakh of $100 denominations and remanded the accused.
A senior official from DRI said that there were specific inputs that few people were planning to leave the country by catching a flight to Hong Kong. The team intercepted the passengers who were about check-in and found the foreign currency.
The official said, “The suspects had booked tickets to Hong Kong in a Thai Airways flight (TG—330). The flight was scheduled to depart at 1.30 am. When the trio were entering the check-in area, they were called for examination. DRI officials found 1,380 notes of 100 denomination amounting to $1.38 lakh.”
“Prima facie, it is found that the currency was collected from unauthorised dealers in the city and was being exported out of the country illegally, which is a violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act and Customs Act. The seized currency is equivalent to over Rs 1,09,15,800. The three passengers have been arrested and further probe is on,” he said.
