The customs department recovered 1.20 lakh Bangladeshi Taka from the outskirts of Raiganj town on Tuesday morning.
Sources said acting on a tip-off, a team from the department reached Thakurbari under the jurisdiction of the Hemtabad police station in North Dinajpur district. The customs officers spotted two youths riding a motorcycle without a number plate. When the team asked the duo to stop, the bikers pretended to comply but suddenly sped away.
The officers chased them in a vehicle. The suspects threw wads of Bangladeshi currency notes onto the road and managed to escape.
Subsequently, the customs recovered 60,000 Bangladeshi Taka of 2 Taka denominations, amounting to 1.20 lakh Bangladeshi Taka. Preliminary investigation suggests that the notes are new and unused.
Anuj Kumar Das, the superintendent of customs in Raiganj, said one of the fleeing youths was wearing the uniform of a civic volunteer. He said there had been no previous instance of such a large seizure of Bangladeshi currency in the Raiganj customs division.