Goa education minister detained with $10 mn at Mumbai airport

Atanasio Monserrate was detained for possessing undisclosed US dollars at the airport.

Goa Education Minister Atanasio Monserrate was detained at the Mumbai airport in the wee hours on Saturday for allegedly carrying unaccounted foreign and Indian currency.

The minister was detained for possessing undisclosed US dollars at the airport,airport sources said.

The sources also said that he may have been carrying foreign and Indian currency beyond permissible limits.

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It was not clear as to where the minister was headed to.

Monserrate’s elder son Rohit was arrested in 2009 for allegedly raping a minor German girl in Goa.

In February,Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was detained for allegedly carrying about Rs 60 lakh of undeclared foreign currency at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.

According to sources in the Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs,Rs 1.16 lakh in Indian currency and $10 million in different foreign currencies have been seized from the minister.

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“He has been detained and would be released after a thorough examination of his papers. His passport will be impounded pending enquiry,” the sources said on condition of anonymity.

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