I did not know rule, claims Barreto

Kolkata: Customs commissioner (airport) Gautam Ray said Jose Ramirez Barreto was booked for smuggling out foreign currency to set a precedent.
However, there is confusion over how much currency a foreigner working in India is entitled to carry without requiring to declare. While a foreign tourist is entitled to carry $10,000 without declaring, Indian tourists are allowed up to $10,000, of which a maximum of $2,500 can be in cash and rest in travellers cheque.
If the foreigner’s rule is applicable in Barreto’s case, he could have walked out with $40,000, claiming that he, his wife Veronica and daughters Nathalie and Isabella had brought the amount while coming to India. If, however, the rule for Indians is applicable, he was entitled to carry only $10,000 in cash and the remaining $30,000 had to be in travellers cheques.
"His wife and kids had left for Sao Paulo a month ago and did not declare any foreign exchange. So, he was entitled to carry their share. But Barreto’s simplicity was his undoing.
"When confronted by plainclothes intelligence unit officers, he panicked and admitted to having purchased the dollars from unauthorized persons in the New Market area on Wednesday evening. That is an illegal transaction," a Customs department source said.
While being whisked away to the Barasat SDJM court, Barreto blurted out: "I didn’t know carrying foreign currency was a crime."
21/03/08 Times of India

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Categories: Airports Mar 2008, Foreign Mar 2008