Chennai: US dollars worth Rs 46.45 lakh and gold worth Rs 5.92 lakh were seized by the customs at the Chennai airport on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. One Malaysian woman was arrested.
According to a customs release, a Malaysian woman, Rayavarapu Sridevi(54), who was to board a flight to Kuala Lumpur, was intercepted when customs personnel found that she was carrying $67,600 in undeclared currency.
She was allegedly carrying $24,300, equivalent to Rs 16.7 lakh, in her hand baggage while $43,300, equivalent to Rs 29.75 lakh, were found concealed in her personal effects, amounting to $67,600(equivalent to Rs 46.45 lakh) in undeclared currency. The same was recovered and seized under the provisions of the Customs Act 1962 read with the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999, and the passenger was arrested.
In another case, one Syed Mohamed(28) of Ramanathapuram, who arrived from Colombo in an Indigo Airlines flight on Wednesday night, was intercepted by the airport officials. A personal search was conducted, and two bundles of rubbery material were recovered from his rectum. 100 grams of gold, valued at Rs 3.27 lakh, was seized under the Customs Act, 1962.
In another case on the same night, based on specific intelligence, AIU officers intercepted one Syed Ibrahim(39) of Chennai, who had arrived from Kuala Lumpur in a Batick Air flight. During his personal search, two bundles of rubbery material were recovered from his rectum. Upon extraction, 81 grams of gold, valued at Rs 2.65 lakh, was recovered and the same was seized under the Customs Act 1962. Further investigation is underway.
