The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) posted on the India-Nepal border at Panitanki in the Siliguri subdivision on Friday apprehended a US national who was born in Nepal and seized $21,500 from him.

Sources said the SSB personnel posted near the New Mechi bridge in Panitanki stopped a vehicle carrying passengers from India to Nepal. There were four people in the vehicle, including the driver.

The SSB personnel checked the passengers’ identities and found that one of them, Baraily Binod, was carrying US dollars without a valid document. Binod, the source said, was from Pennsylvania and was born in Nepal.

During the preliminary investigation, the SSB officers learned that he had travelled to Delhi from the US on March 18 with Manikumar Biswa, also a US citizen and his brother-in-law.

They were in Delhi till March 22, and then the duo, along with three others, including two residents of Bengal, took a flight to Bagdogra.

“From the airport, they went to an orphanage at Budhabare in the Jhapa district of Nepal. The following day, Binod returned to India and was staying at a relative’s place in Jaigaon (in Alipurduar district),” said a source.

On Friday, Binod, along with his sister-in-law and another female relative, was heading towards Jhapa again in a vehicle when the SSB nabbed him.

“He failed to produce any document to validate the lawful possession and legal cross-border movement of foreign currency. The currency was seized,” the source added.

Later, Binod, along with the seized amount, was handed over to the Customs officers in Panitanki.