Kozhikode: The impact of demonetisation of high-value currency on the flow of black money seems to have faded, shows the number of seizures made by the Excise in the past one month from the Muthanga checkpost. During this period, black money to the tune of more than Rs 4 crore was seized from the border checkpoint for passengers crossing the Kerala-Karnataka border.
In the checks at Muthanga in Wayanad district on September 4, Rs 2,44,70,000 was seized from various vehicles. The money was stored in 'mysterious' shelves inside the cars, says Excise deputy commissioner PK Suresh. In another raid at the checkpost on Thursday, more than Rs 1.5 crore was seized. The money seized were to be distributed to agents/customers at Koduvally and Thamarassery areas of Kozhikode district.
“There is already a ban on vehicles through this route from 10 pm to 6 am. The smuggling is done in broad daylight. The new headache is the secret storage points in the vehicles. The vehicles are altered in such way as to hide the currency and smuggle. Some even use space around hand brakes and tail lamp to hide the currency,” Suresh added.
He added that though the flow of black money received a blow with the demonetisation in 2016, however, the agents are back in full swing, with new techniques to fool the officials. Though vehicles including buses and two-wheelers are being used, mostly, the agents use cars.
