5 Chinese nationals caught smuggling American dollars worth Rs. 3.2 crore

DRI officers said the five persons, all of whom are from Taiwan, confessed they are part of a larger syndicate which involves smugglers of foreign-origin gold into India and smuggling the money acquired by selling the gold out of the country.

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Wednesday arrested five Chinese passengers for allegedly trying to smuggle American dollars worth Rs. 3.2 crore out of the country.

The three nationals were from Taiwan and were part of a larger gang. (HT FILE)

DRI officers said the five persons, all of whom are from Taiwan, confessed they are part of a larger syndicate which involves smugglers of foreign-origin gold into India and smuggling the money acquired by selling the gold out of the country.

According to DRI officials, the five suspects, two of whom are women, were intercepted at Terminal 3(T3) of the Indira Gandhi International airport minutes before they were about to depart for Hong Kong. One of the suspects is a civil engineer by profession, they added.

“The passengers were asked to cooperate for a detailed baggage check. While checking their checked-in bags we recovered $4,49,600 equivalent to ₹3.25 crore. The five were attempting to smuggle the money out of India. The recovered foreign currency was seized and the five Taiwanese passengers were arrested,” an officer, who did not wish to be named, said.

Officers said the suspects told them that they had arrived in New Delhi from Hong Kong last Sunday. “They also confessed that they were part of a larger syndicate involved in smuggling of foreign origin gold into India and then smuggling the money acquired by selling the gold out of the country in form of foreign currency,” the officer said.

Names of the five suspects could not be revealed as the matter is still under investigations, the officer said.

All the five suspects were produced before a court on Thursday by DRI. The suspects were remanded to judicial custody of 14 days.