Afghan held with forex worth Rs 2.52 crore at Delhi airport

An Afghan national was arrested at the airport here for allegedly trying to smuggle out foreign currency worth Rs 2.52 crore, in one of the major seizures of forex.

The accused was intercepted in the departure hall of the IGI airport when he was trying to board a flight to Mumbai.

He had arrived from Afghanistan yesterday morning.

"Soon after his arrival to India, the accused went out of the airport to Lajpat Nagar to collect foreign currency.

He then came back to the airport to board a flight to Mumbai in the evening the same day," said Govind Garg, Deputy Commissioner of the customs department at the airport.

The passenger was carrying foreign currencies -- USD 2,15,000 and Saudi Riyals 7,00,000 -- equivalent to Rs 2.52 crore and it was to be given to another passenger who was travelling to Dubai by another flight.

"The forex was concealed in a piece of corrugated box, wrapped with an English newspaper kept inside his hand baggage, and in a cavity created by inserting a false bottom in another piece of luggage being carried by him," the officer said.

He was supposed to handover the bags containing the foreign currency to another international transit passenger, who left India in the mean time, when the Afghan national was intercepted.

The foreign currency has been seized and the passenger has been arrested.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)