Forex valued at Rs 38.5 lakh recovered from Dubai-bound duo at Pune airport

PUNE: The customs authorities arrested two persons on the charge of trying to smuggle out forex, valued at Rs 35.41 lakh in Indian currency, from the city airport to Dubai on a SpiceJet flight on Tuesday.
“The two passengers have been identified as Balaji Mustapure and Mayur Bhaskar Patil of Hadapsar. They were going to Dubai and were caught in the departure area.A search of their baggage led to the recovery of the foreign currency. During the inquiry, both said the currency did not belong to them. They claimed that someone had given them the forex for handing it over to someone else,” an official said.
The authorities stated that the seized forex was in Saudi Arabian Riyals. They were confiscated under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962, and Foreign Exchange Management Act, 2000, a source said.
“The officers involved in the seizure and investigation are Vinita Pusdekar and Sanjay Zarekar, both superintendents, under the supervision of deputy commissioner Usha Bhoyar. The currency was concealed under layers of clothes in the bags of the duo. Both admitted to the conscious possession, carriage and concealment of the currency,” the source said.
The Hadapsar duo were arrested just over a fortnight after the authorities recovered forex valued at Rs 38.5 lakh in Indian currency from a passenger going to Dubai on an Air India flight. The forex recovered from Vishal Vitthal Gaikwad was in the form of Kuwati Dinar, Omani Riyal, UAE Dirhams and Behrain Dinars. He had concealed them inside the internal cover of his handbag.
Several theories, including hawala racket, are being investigated by the customs authorities in connection with the recent forex seizure cases. “Of what we know, these people tend to convert Indian currency into forex and tend to take them to the Arabian countries, mainly to buy gold. In the last two cases, the operators were small. It seemed they did not know much about hawala transactions like big players,” another source said.
“The reason for converting Indian money into foreign currency could be many, including better exchange rate. The main players could be in Kerala, Mumbai or Karnataka. We are trying to reach the kingpins,” the source added.