B'deshi national held at Kol Airport with foreign currency worth Rs 20 L

Kolkata: A Bangladeshi national has been arrested at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport in Kolkata for allegedly carrying foreign currency illegally worth Rs 20 lakh.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel have nabbed the person identified as Farman Chowdhury Reza and immediately handed him over to the Customs

department officials.

According to the CISF officials, Reza was about to board a flight to Chittagong scheduled to take off at 11:10 am. During the security check around 10:40 am, on-duty CISF personnel saw Reza behaving suspiciously in the

security check queue.

While he was walking, it seemed like Reza had something inside his shoes as the pace was slow and unnatural.

Smelling a rat, a CISF official was informed by the jawans. Reza was immediately ordered to step out of the queue. He was questioned on the spot. As Reza fumbled, the CISF official detained him and took Reza to the CISF facility at the airport. Reza was then interrogated. Though he claimed to be clean, the CISF officials asked Reza to take off his shoes.

Having no other way out, Reza had to follow the orders. After he took off his shoes, the CISF officials found a huge amount of foreign currency denominations of several countries concealed inside his shoe soles. Following which Reza's baggage was opened.

The bag had more foreign currency denominations and some other valuables. He was asked about the foreign currency and other valuables but failed to produce any valid reason and document.

The CISF informed that they have found 6,700 USD, 6,000 Australian Dollar, 2,400 Canadian Cent, 1,720 Bangladesh Taka, 13,540 INR, five expensive wrist watches and two expensive mobile phones from Reza. All the articles were seized. Later, Reza was handed over to the Customs department for further action.