The recent unearthing of a foreign currency and gold smuggling racket involving national hockey player Virender Verma at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport has raised several questions on the airport security system.

On Thursday midnight, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence(DRI) sleuths arrested three persons at Delhi's IGI Airport. Virender Verma and his two associates Rohit Vij and Ankush Khurana were arrested with Rs 4.47 crore worth of foreign currency.

Euros and USDs were seized from the syndicate, which was led by Virender Verma, a national level Delhi-based hockey player. His two associates Rohit and Ankush were also caught. Their interrogation revealed that they had received the foreign currency from two carriers, who after handing over the currency boarded a flight to Mumbai. In a swift operation, two carriers Pawan and Radhesh were arrested in Mumbai.

VIRENDER INVOLVED IN SMUGGLING SINCE 2015

Sources said that during interrogation Virender said he belongs to a respectable family in Delhi. However, he had been indulging in gold and foreign currency smuggling since 2015 and had travelled to foreign countries with unauthorised foreign currency at least thirty times.

National level Delhi-based hockey player Virender Verma. National level Delhi-based hockey player Virender Verma.

He had been arrested in 2015 with nine kgs of gold and Rs 80 lakh foreign currency. He was released on bail but he was arrested again in connection with foreign currency smuggling. If Virender and his associates had succeeded in smuggling the currency they would have made six to seven lakh rupees since they evaded the tax due on Forex.

MODUS OPERANDI

He and his associates adopted an interesting modus operandi. According to the plan they were to board a flight to Hong Kong while two of their carriers Pawan and Radhesh were booked for a domestic flight to Mumbai so that their time matches their flight time. And they meet in the common lounge where international and domestic passengers assemble after security checks.

After the check in and security clearance, they met with carriers in the common lounge area where people assemble before boarding the flight.

The currency was handed over to Virender and his two associates, who were to fly to Hong Kong. Before entering the airport the carriers were given the currency as they had to take domestic flight for which currency checks are not stringent. So they managed to clear security hold area without the foreign currency being detected.



ALL FIVE BOOKED

All five were booked under Section 135 and 135 A of Customs Act 1962. DRI is now in the process of reporting the matter to Enforcement Directorate since the matter also involves violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act. They have also detected violation of Income Tax rules.

The two carriers arrested in Mumbai were brought to Delhi on transit remand. All five accused were on Monday produced in court, where they were remanded to judicial custody for fourteen days.

The busting of this racket has revealed a major loophole in the security set up at the airport common area, where scrupulous elements could transfer gold, foreign currency and even narcotics for the purpose of international smuggling. DRI officials have flagged up the issue with higher authorities.

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