The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has arrested seven passengers at Kolkata's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport for allegedly trying to carry foreign currency worth ₹3.12 crore out of the country.
Acting on specific intelligence, DRI officers stopped the passengers in the early hours of 6 November as they were leaving for Bangkok. A search of their hand and checked-in baggage turned up US dollars and British pounds, the agency said.
How it was hidden
The DRI says the currency was concealed inside notebooks, in two-layered hidden compartments in trolley bags, in shoes, in the pockets of clothes in checked baggage, and deep inside both checked and hand baggage. None of the passengers could produce documents showing lawful possession, it said.
All seven were arrested and charged with smuggling out foreign currency under the Customs Act read with FEMA regulations. Officers also stopped a few other passengers and recovered foreign currency equivalent to another ₹0.39 crore; they were handed to the Customs formation for further proceedings.
The DRI described the seven as members of a syndicate; those are its allegations and have not been tested in court.
Source: official release by the Ministry of Finance, issued through the Press Information Bureau, Government of India (10 NOV 2026 3:17PM by PIB Delhi). Read the full official text: DRI foils attempt to smuggle foreign currency out of India at Kolkata Airport; Foreign currency equivalent to Rs. 3.5 crore seized and seven arrested.
How we verified this
VerifiedEvery fact, figure and quotation is taken from the official PIB release (Release ID 2334617) issued by the Ministry of Finance on 10 NOV 2026 3:17PM by PIB Delhi; checked against the source on publication. Story written by BDT from that release; no outside facts added.
Sources
- 1.DRI foils attempt to smuggle foreign currency out of India at Kolkata Airport; Foreign currency equivalent to Rs. 3.5 crore seized and seven arrested — Press Information Bureau, Government of India
