PUNE: The Customs officers at the Pune Airport nabbed a passenger who was to travel from Pune to Dubai by Air India flight IX 211 on Sunday, with Dirhams amounting to Rs 38.50 lakh. The recovery came during the personal search of the passenger and his luggage.
The passenger has been identified as Vishal Vittal Gaikwad, aged 21 years.
He is a resident of Sangli. He got his passport on May 31. As per information shared by sources he was supposed to stay in Dubai for 10 days.
Joint Commissioner of Pune Customs Vaishali Patange said, “The foreign currency recovered from the passenger was seized under the reasonable belief of the same being attempted to be smuggled outside India and hence, liable for confiscation under the provisions of Customs Act 1962 read with FEMA, 2000.”
“In the statement recorded under section 108 of the Customs Act 1962, the passenger admitted the possession, carriage, concealment and recovery of the currencies seized, further investigation is under process,” reads the statement released by the officer.
The accused has been granted 14 days of magisterial custody. Public prosecutor Anjali Desai pleaded the case on behalf of the Government of India.
The team of officers who conducted the search included Deputy Commissioner Bharat Nawale, Superintendents Vinita Pusdekar, Madhav Palnitkar and Sudha Iyer, Inspectors Rajendraprasad Meena, Ashwini Kumar Deshmukh, Amjad Shaikh, Deshraj Meena and Sushma Jadhav, Havaldars DV Bagade and AN Bhat.
This is the second case this year. In February, two passengers were nabbed by the officials with foreign currency worth Rs 28 lakh of US Dollar and Arab Emirates Dirham (AED).
