A truck driver and his assistant, both Indian nationals, were arrested by the Border Security Force allegedly for illegally dealing in foreign currency through the Petrapole international land port on Saturday evening.

The BSF team attached to the 179 Battalion recovered 8,50,000 Saudi Riyal valued at over Rs 1.68 crore from driver Baki Billa Sahaji, 20, and his assistant Sahin Hossain Mondal, 19, while they were leaving the Petrapole check post after returning from Bangladesh in an empty truck. While Baki is a resident of Bongaon, Sahin lives in Petrapole.

The duo were handed over to the Petrapole police along with the truck. The seized currency was deposited at Customs, a BSF officer said.

The arrests happened on Saturday evening when a BSF team was checking empty vehicles returning from Bangladesh after unloading export items.

“We had a tip-off about foreign currency being illegally brought into the country and our team was very alert to track it,” BSF sources said. “During the checking, the behaviour of the truck driver and his assistant seemed suspicious. We suspected foul play and our personnel thoroughly checked their vehicle to find nine packets of foreign currency from under the driver’s seat. The packets contained 17 bundles of foreign currency valued approximately at 8,50,000 Saudi Riyal. Asked about the source and reason behind the duo carrying the hefty amount of foreign currency, they failed to offer any reasonable reply,” said a spokesperson for South Bengal Frontier of the BSF in Calcutta.

During police interrogation, Baki confessed he had gone to Benapole port in Bangladesh on August 12 to export clothing materials and while returning with the emptytruck , a Bangladeshi national asked him to hand over the packets to the latter’s Indian associate in Petrapole.

“The driver claimed he was given Rs 300 for each of the 17 packets,” the BSF spokesperson said and added that the driver’s assistant claimed ignorance about the currency notes.

Officiating commanding officer of 179 Battalion Ajay Kumar met Customs officials at Petrapole and urged them to help prevent smuggling and laundering of cash by people associated with export and import activities.

BSF authorities suspect a major racket was behind the money laundering network. “Our intelligence inputs indicate big operators behind such incidents. We are coordinating with civil administration and customs authorities to bust this racket in national interest,” a senior BSF official posted in Petrapole said.