Indian nabbed at NAIA for P39-M smuggle try

A Manila-based Indian money changer was arrested yesterday while attempting to smuggle out of the country some P39 million in various currencies, including P7 million.

Agents of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Bureau of Customs pounced on Prakask Ghanshyamdas Chandnani, 40, as he was about to board an early morning Cathay Pacific flight for Hong Kong.

The Indian national was earlier placed under surveillance following intelligence reports that he had been smuggling out of the country big amounts of foreign currencies in violation of a memorandum circular of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Under the BSP circular, a person is allowed to bring out of the country foreign currency not exceeding US$1 million, and P10,000.

When intercepted at the boarding gate, the Indian national, who claimed that he was a permanent resident in the country, offered to bribe the arresting agents with P5 million in cash hidden in another handcarried luggage.

He was immediately collared and brought to the office of Customs Collector Celso Templo where his deputy, Tess Roque, counted the seized currencies preparatory to the filing of a smuggling case against him.

The DILG also said that they might file an economic sabotage case against Chandnani, a non-bailable offense under Philippine laws.

When informed of the arrest of the Indian national, Immigration Commissioner Rufus Rodriguez said that he would look into the records of the foreigner. "If found that he is a permanent resident as claimed by him, I would summarily cancel it," Rodriguez said.

He also ordered that the name of the Indian national be placed in the hold departure list to prevent him from leaving the country while there is a pending case against him, and in the blacklist if ever he would be allowed to leave the country so that he would not be able to reenter the Philippines in the future.

Arresting officers were puzzled how the luggage of the Indian national passed the primary X-ray detection machine at the entrance of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport departure area.

They suspected that the Indian national had a contact man manning the X-ray detection machine at the time he had checked-in his baggage, including his handcarried luggage, otherwise the X-ray machine would have detected the foreign currencies stashed in his luggage.