$100 Notes at a Premium: How Surat Became a Hub for Dubai-Bound Dollar Smuggling

Surat | Gujarat — The gap between official exchange rates and street demand is getting bigger, and India’s currency underworld has quietly found a way to make money that goes through the diamond city of Surat. What looks like a normal foreign exchange deal on paper has actually become a high-margin underground business where a single $100 bill is worth almost 10-15% more than its legal value.

Based on the information received by the Surat Sub Regional Unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Surat, a female passenger going to Dubai in IndiGo Airlines’ Surat-Dubai flight (6E1507) was searched and a total amount of 1,34,100 US dollars and 1,20,08,655 (1.20 crores) in Indian currency notes were seized. In this case, the female accused carrying the notes, Anjali Bharat Soni and Darshit Nileshkumar Thakkar, were arrested. 

During the interrogation of accused, the identity of the main conspirator of the foreign currency smuggling racket, Bhanwarsinh Gangasinh Rajpurohit, a resident of B-502, Gunina CHS of Palm Beach Road, Sector-16 A, Navi Mumbai, Sanpada, Thane was revealed and the Surat DRI team arrested him from Mumbai. The accused was produced in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Surat, and the court accepted the arguments of DRI advocate Dharmendra Prajapati and granted him a 4-day remand.

During interrogation of Bhanwarsinh Gangasinh Rajpurohit, confessed that, “Anjali and her husband Darshit Thakkar were caught in the 7th consignment after sending 4,35,000 US dollars to Dubai in 6 consignments earlier. Bhanwarsinh Rajpurohit used to pay a commission of Rs. 55,000 for the consignment of 1,10,000 US dollars”

Investigators say that currency traders from Mumbai chose Surat airport as it is safe for the movement of dollars in bulk quantity. The dollar is worth about ₹90, so a $100 bill should be worth about ₹9,000. Instead, reports say that the same note was being sold in Surat for ₹9,600 to ₹9,800, which made it very tempting to buy for ₹600 to ₹800 more.

This premium turned hard currency into quick cash. Over several shipments, lakhs of dollars were allegedly sent through Surat in just a few flights, making the city an unexpected center for illegal forex movement. The case is worth about $4.8 lakh, which is almost ₹4.27 crore. This includes $1,34,100 that the authorities have already taken.

Surat DRI found during investigation that, “Various random persons known as ‘Rokdiwala’ at the Al Saba market in Mumbai used to hand over the dollars to Darshit Thakkar. Based on the evidence on record in the form of recorded statements and diary and digital evidence present in the mobile phone, which was corroborated by the recorded statements of Vinod Singh Rajpurohit and Bhanwarsingh G. Rajpurohit, it appears that Bhanwarsingh Rajpurohit was actively involved in arranging for the smuggling of foreign currency from India to Dubai. He is the main conspirator and beneficiary of the foreign currency smuggling racket and has helped in the smuggling of foreign currency from India to Dubai.