Nagaland home minister Imkong L Imchen is not new to carrying huge amounts of cash and facing problems for the same.
The minister who was detained on Monday in his home state for carrying Rs 1.1 crore in cash and a cache of arms in his vehicle had a similar encounter in Nepal three years ago.
Imchen was detained at the Tribhuwan International Airport in Kathmandu in June 2010 after he was found carrying a bag full of Indian currency notes of 500 and 1000 denominations.
Since Indian currencies of both denominations are banned in Nepal (for fear of rampant use of counterfeit notes), the minister was questioned at length by Nepal’s security agencies for hours.
Imchen who was carrying Rs 9 lakh in his bag and was on a private visit to Nepal with his family was later allowed to return to India after he expressed ignorance about the ban and the police refrained from pressing charges.