Indian arrested from Kathmandu airport
By IANSTuesday, June 30, 2009
KATHMANDU - An Indian man was arrested from Nepal’s sole international airport in Kathmandu Tuesday.
According to police, Anil Kumar Sharma, who checked in at the Tribhuvan International Airport in the morning to catch an Indian Airlines flight to New Delhi, was arrested after security forces found 140 currency notes of the denomination of Rs.1,000 each from his hand bag.
Nepal has banned Rs.1,000 and Rs.500 notes in a bid to crack down on the growing racket in counterfeit Indian currency.
Sharma has been sent to the revenue investigation department for further probe.
Even if the money in his possession is found to be genuine, he still faces a fine and possible imprisonment for violating the law of the land.
Though the ban has been in place for nearly a decade, many Indian travellers are still unaware of it.
One of the most sensational arrests over carrying the banned notes was three years ago when the manager of the wellknown Pakistani rock band Jal was arrested at the same airport for carrying Rs.1.1 million, mostly in Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 denomination notes.
Hasnain Alam, stopped from boarding a Jet Airways flight to New Delhi, told police that the band had earned the money playing gigs in India and were unaware of Nepal’s currency regulations.
