Trio barred from flight for wrong currency

Calcutta: Three Bangkok-bound passengers were stopped from boarding a flight at Calcutta airport today after officials found them carrying euros instead of baht, the Thai currency.
Balwinder Singh, Maninder Singh and Gurbinder Singh — in their twenties and all residents of Gurdaspur, Punjab — were scheduled to take the Calcutta-Bangkok Thai Airways flight at 2am.
However, the three were neither arrested nor detained. Immigration officials said the three men had reached the airport around 12.30 and proceeded for immigration clearance after collecting their boarding passes. They told the officials they were carrying only dollars but authorities found only euros on them while scanning their passports.
“There was an endorsement of euro currency in their passports that raised suspicion,” an immigration official said.
Asked why they were carrying euros only, the three said they wanted to shop in Bangkok. When the officials asked whether they were carrying the Thai currency, they said no.
A search of their bags revealed letters inviting them to participate in a hockey tournament in Macedonia, Greece. “It seems they could not get a visa for Greece and so were trying to enter that country through Bangkok,” said an official.
09/08/08 The Telegraph

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Categories: Airports Aug 2008, Foreign Aug 2008