Mangaluru: Acting swiftly on a specific information, the officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Mangalore intercepted one Abdur Rub, aged 21 years, a native of Bhatkal, Uttara Kanada District at Mangalore International Airport on February 2. 
He was arrested while he was about to proceed towards Emigration counter after completing his check-in formalities to board Jet Airways Flight No. 9w 532 going to Dubai. On a thorough examination of the check-in and the hand baggage of Abdur Rub, the officers found that bundles of foreign currency were deftly concealed inside the tea packets and other confectionery packets.
Assorted foreign currency comprising of US Dollars, Saudi Riyals, UAE Dirham and Australian Dollars adding up to 35,02,900 in terms of their value in INR were recovered from him under the provisions of Customs Act, 1962 read with FEMA Rules and RBI guidelines issued in this regard.
Upon interrogation, Abdur Rub admitted to the offence and stated that he had purchased the said foreign currency from some underground operators in Bhatkal and was carrying it to Dubai for making payments/investments in connection with the garment business being run by his family members and relatives over there.
This is the second case of seizure of foreign currency from a Bhatkal based operative within one month. On January 1, the Directorate had seized foreign currency amounting to about Rs 25 Lakh from Mohammed Farooque Armar at the Mangalore International Airport.
Further, investigation in the matter is under progress to reach the kingpin of underground hawala business.
