Foreign currency seized from a bus passenger and a gold merchant; tribunal upholds its release
In October 2023 customs officers stopped a bus at Kaza toll plaza and seized foreign currency worth about Rs 13.10 lakh from a passenger, then searched a Narsapur gold merchant's shop and seized 940 grams of gold and US$4,250. The adjudicating officer confiscated everything and imposed an Rs 8 lakh penalty. On appeal the currency was released on redemption; on 21 July 2026 the tribunal dismissed Customs' challenge.
This page records what the cited court, tribunal and government records say happened. Findings belong to the court or authority that made them; this register adds none of its own. Names of private individuals are withheld unless a naming gate clears them.
How we verify →Customs' appeal dismissed on 21 July 2026; the appellate order releasing the currency on redemption stands.
What happened
The New Indian Express reported, citing customs officials, that officers of the Vijayawada Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate intercepted a Vijayawada-to-Nellore bus at Kaza toll plaza in Guntur district in October 2023 and held a man from Kakinada carrying foreign currency worth around Rs 13.10 lakh. Officials said he was travelling to Chennai to exchange the notes for smuggled gold.
In a follow-up search, customs officers searched a gold merchant's premises in Narsapur, West Godavari district, and recovered 940.46 grams of gold and US$4,250. The tribunal later recorded the total foreign currency seized as equivalent to Rs 16,63,041.
The adjudicating authority ordered absolute confiscation of the gold, confiscation of the foreign currency, and a penalty of Rs 8,00,000. The Commissioner (Appeals), Guntur, set aside the confiscation of the foreign currency and allowed its redemption, released part of the gold unconditionally, and reduced the penalty.
On 21 July 2026 the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal in Hyderabad dismissed the department's appeal, holding that gold 'is not prohibited goods' and that the appellate order was reasoned and balanced.
What the tribunal recorded
“The dispute arises out of seizure of (i) Gold weighing 940.46 grams (comprising 415.93 grams without marking and 524.53 grams with foreign markings), and (ii) foreign currency equivalent Rs. 16,63,041/-.”
Customs Appeal No. 30301 of 2025, final order dated 21 July 2026, para 3 — read the full text
Carrying dollars, treated as contraband
Holding and carrying foreign currency is ordinary in open economies. Here it was seized from a bus passenger and a merchant, confiscated and penalised, and took nearly three years and two appeals to resolve.
What we could not confirm
The dates and the bus interception come from a news report quoting customs officials; the tribunal order gives the quantities and the adjudication history. The reduced penalty and the redemption fine are not stated in the tribunal order. The gold in this case is recorded, but the gold category uses a separate case.