currency flying on road......... there are still honest people around !!

Every one wants to be become rich and famous overnight… ~ currency notes, especially fresh ones fascinate people !!! Understand that persons travelling abroad and returning are permitted to carry only Rs.5000/- - to or from countries other than Nepal and Bhutan……….. seems incredibly low !!!

In Sept 2012, there was a report in TOI and others newspapers of a 17 year old arrested in Mumbai airport for possessing 72 lakhs in currency notes and  iridium worth 30 lakhs.  In what was described as the biggest haul by Customs,  a minor was arrested at the airport for possessing huge amount of Indian currency notes and iridium.  It was stated that 17-year-old landed in Mumbai from Hong Kong; he was bound for Dubai. While he was checking in for the Dubai flight, airline officials detected the presence of a powder in his luggage. The officials said the boy was unnerved by this and did not insist on boarding the flight. Instead, he called his father, Mohammed Rangrez, who was in Dubai.  The boy did not step out of the airport for 11 hours; meantime, Rangrez took an Air Arabia flight to Mumbai to come to his son's aid," a customs official said.

Rangrez landed in Mumbai at 9 pm, but went to a section of the terminal building different from where his son was. Unable to contact his father, the boy decided to exit the airport and took the green channel out. "By then, immigration authorities had already sent a message to customs about the presence of a power in his bag. Upon interception, the authorities found iridium in his bag. Under the metal was a layer of tamarind packets, beneath which the money was hidden in polythene bags. The bags were thin and matched the colour of the suitcase bottom," the airport official said. The father-son duo was later arrested.

We have seen stash of currency notes only in films.  In Mani Rathnam’s ‘Thiruda Thiruda’ it was freshly printed bank notes of incredible 10 billion value in container lorry and the money trail by a group that formed the main storyline. 

In Sankar’s  ‘Sivaji, the Boss’ the story line was black money…. Adiseshan played by Suman manages to put Sivaji behind the bars and hatch a plot to eliminate him.  To cover up, they organize for thugs to shoot up the police van that carries Sivaji’s body.  Sivaji fakes death, revives the foundation in disguise landing back as MGR ~ the villain as also others could realize that it is only Sivaji but could not prove as they had created enough alibi for the death of Sivaji in police custody.  In the long climax, Sivaji fights the villain in the terrace of his medical college ~ and unravels hard currency notes stashed below the tiles………. !! …. Currency notes fly everywhere and the students start collecting them stating it was the black money paid by them for begetting seats…….in the melee, the villain gets killed in the stampede. 

Though we often read of huge amounts of money left in auto-rickshaws getting returned to Police Station by honest auto drivers ~ there is always the Q that how would a human being act – when he accidentally gets possession of huge money….. will he keep it; find and return to the owner; or deposit it with the police ???  It is the same Qs that form part of a poll in NZ Herald – not without reason but following a news item with caption ‘$50 notes flutter from the sky’  ~ the result of the poll is posted at the end of the post. 

Here is the NZ report of 15.10.13 : Money doesn't grow on trees or fall from the sky but thousands of dollars did flutter from the rear of a black four-wheel drive as it cruised through a small Northland town yesterday. Locals rushed to gather up the cash as it swirled in the breeze on Hikurangi's main road George St, just outside the old dairy factory site, about 8.40am. One of the first to realise what was happening was Shayn Rouse of Rouse Motorcycles, who was on his way to work. "I was talking to my farm worker on the phone when I saw a four-wheel drive vehicle come around the corner towards me. It looked like it had confetti coming out the back of it," Mr Rouse said. "Then I realised that it was money and I pulled over." He quickly discovered that what he thought was newspaper confetti were crisp $50 notes.

"They were everywhere. There was money all over the road." The unexpected cash dump caught the eye of those in the area who were on their way to work or school and about 15 people made the dash for cash. "I had handfuls of cash and reckon I had about $3000 myself," Mr Rouse said. "Everyone there couldn't believe what was happening." Mr Rouse estimated there could have been up to $20,000 on the road.

Moments later, the driver of the black vehicle returned and the locals handed over the dosh. "I said to him 'here you go bro' and gave him the money. He said thanks but didn't really seem too stressed about it," Mr Rouse said. The man collected up the money from the locals, got in his vehicle and drove off. "If he hadn't have come back, I would have collected it up and taken it to the police. I've lost cash before and had it returned to me, so I would do that for someone else," Mr Rouse said.

The police were contacted but the man had gone by the time they arrived. Hikurangi police Senior Constable Gavin Benney said the car was registered to a person in Mount Maunganui.

So what would you have done – think to yourselves… ???????

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

15th Oct 2013.