Rs 1.48 crore worth Saudi riyals seized at Chennai airport

The DRI sleuths kept surveillance at the Chennai airport since Saturday night after receiving an intelligence input that a passenger was trying to smuggle cash through hawala channels. 

The officials intercepted Mohammed Arif Ayoob Khan (32), a native of Chennai, when he was about to board a flight for Dubai in the early hours of Sunday.

When the DRI and Customs officials examined his suitcase, they found a secret chamber concealed using black adhesive tapes. Officials removed the adhesive and found bundles of Saudi Arabian riyals. 

The officials counted the cash and found it to be equivalent to Rs 1.48 crore. The officials took the passenger into custody for a detailed interrogation and found that he had recently travelled to Dubai six times and had carried large sums of cash with him. He used the money to purchase materials in Dubai and later sold them in India. 

The officials said that he had connections at Kochi and Coimbatore. The officials have registered a case and further investigation is on to unravel the hawala network.