Three men were caught at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Wednesday, hiding 3.9 lakh euros – equivalent to Rs 2.9 crore – in their rectums, Times of India reported.
The banknotes, nearly enough to buy them a Lamborghini, were wrapped in plastic pouches and inserted into their body cavity, sources in the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence said.
The men were intercepted by DRI officials when they landed at IGI from Dubai around 4.30am. “During their search, some currency notes were recovered from their turbans. But most of the money was found inserted in their rectum, neatly wrapped in plastic,” said a senior officer. Officers said it was one of the biggest seizures of its kind at IGI.
The men were scheduled to catch a domestic IndiGo flight. DRI officers said they had received a tip-off on the three men. They were intercepted as they headed towards the check-in counter to get their boarding passes, after entering the departure terminal of T3. The trio was detained for questioning after the currency seizure. They said the money was for starting a business abroad.
The officers said even if there is no upper limit to the amount of foreign currency that can be brought into the country, the carriers should be able to produce convincing evidence on the source of the money.
Officials suspect the role of a larger syndicate. They said this was one of the biggest seizures of currency from the body of a person at the airport. “The three passengers were offloaded by the airline. More investigations are on and the trio’s background is being checked. We are also looking at records to see if they were involved in smuggling in the past,” said an officer.
