Three students, travelling from Dubai, were stopped at the Pune airport last week. When their bags were searched, the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Pune Customs Department found $400,100 (Rs 3.5 crore) concealed between the pages of books.

Their questioning revealed the trolley bags belonged to Pune-based travel agent Khushbu Agarwal who told them they contained her office documents. The students had booked a travel package for their Dubai trip through Ms Agarwal.

“At the last minute before departure from Pune, she handed over two bags to students on the pretext that they contained her office documents urgently required at her Dubai office. The students accepted these bags and departed from Pune,” said AIU sources.

“When the students were interrogated, it was found that they were given some documents to deliver to an office in Dubai. The students did not know that foreign currency was hidden in their bags,” they added.

The hawala racket involving US currency was busted after information was received on a huge quantity of foreign currency placed inside two trolley bags smuggled out of India by a person using three passengers. The customs department alerted their Dubai counterparts and kept a watch on the three students.

When they returned to Pune by a SpiceJet flight on February 17, their bags were searched by the AIU officers who recovered $400, 100.

Ms Agarwal was detained soon after and her statement was recorded under the Customs Act.

Further investigation led the officials to a forex firm located in Mumbai’s Fort area. Foreign currency worth Rs 45 lakh was recovered after the firm was raided, Mohammed Aamir, who had supplied the US currency, was also arrested by the officials.

AIU and Customs officers also conducted simultaneous searches at 10 places in Pune, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai.