Rs 87 cr cash, huge gold detected at airports

New Delhi : Over Rs 87 crore suspect cash, 2,600 kg of gold and other precious metals were intercepted by the CISF at airports in a year since demonetisation, a latest data said. The CISF, that is tasked to guard 59 civil airports in the country, was alerted by the finance ministry to check the suspicious movement of cash and other high value items in the wake of the demonetisation of the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in November last year. As per a data of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), between November 8, 2016-November 7– the force detected Rs 87.17 crore suspect cash, 1,491.5 kg of gold and 572.63 kg of silver as part of its airports guarding task, after the note ban was declared.

  While the maximum suspect cash detection — over Rs 33 crore — has been made at the Mumbai airport till now, the highest volume of gold (over 498 kgs) has been interdicted at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, according to the data. The highest volume of silver — more than 266 kgs — was detected at the Jaipur airport by the force, it added.

  “All these instances and passengers apprehended with these high value items were handed over to the Income Tax Department for further inquiry as per the law,” a CISF spokesperson said.

Fin min to submit note ban report in 2 weeks

The finance ministry will submit a clarification on the impact of demonetisation to the Standing Committee of Parliament on Finance in 15 days, a member of the panel said Thursday. “The officials of the finance ministry were advised to come with a detailed clarification on the issue in writing within a fortnight,” the member said. Officials from economic affairs, financial services and revenue  department on Thursday deposed before the panel to give verbal clarification on the  issue. Another meeting of the parliamentary panel has been slated for Nov 16 when officials from the telecom department and other related stake-holders would be called, the source said.