A senior Nigerian diplomat was detained by Indian authorities after they seized $2.27m in cash from him at the international airport in New Delhi, media reports said on Tuesday.
Captain G A Ojedokun, defence adviser to the Nigerian envoy in India, was detained on Monday by Income-Tax and Enforcement Directorate officials in what was considered to be the biggest-ever cash haul at an Indian airport, the Times of India daily reported.
Authorities said they suspected a link between officials from the African country and its thriving drug syndicate, as well as the possibility of payment of protection money by Indian companies operating in Nigeria.
Officials, however, told the newspaper that Ojedokun would be released after questioning because he has diplomatic immunity.
Ojedokun was caught when airline staffers handling the baggage at the Indira Gandhi International Airport were alerted by X-ray images of his bag.
On inspection of the luggage, 150 packets stuffed with $100 bills came tumbling out of his bag, officials said, adding that the Lagos-bound diplomat had no satisfactory explanation for the foreign currency.
“This is a large racket of foreign exchange transfer,” an unnamed income-tax official told the PTI news agency. “The racket is spread over different countries with several contacts based in India. We have launched a detailed investigation.”