Kathmandu, June 30 2010: A month after Uttar Pradesh Minister for women and welfare Vidya Chaudhary displayed her ignorance of geography and strayed into Nepal with armed guards causing a furore, another Indian Minister had a brush with the law in the neighbouring country on Wednesday when he was found to be carrying banned currency notes.

Nagaland's Home Minister Imkong L Imchen, who had come to Kathmandu to attend a wedding, was forced to miss his original flight to New Delhi on Wednesday and spend more time than he had bargained for at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu after airport security staff detected that he was carrying nearly Rs 9 lakh in 500 and 1000-rupee notes, items which are banned in Nepal.

Imchen was forced to miss his Jet Airways flight at 9.30 am though his wife Alila and sons Sungtikumba and Daochier were allowed to proceed.

The detention produced a flurry of frantic calls to Kohima and New Delhi, finally resulting in the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu being alerted.

Imchen was released after a senior embassy official explained to the airport authorities who he was and blamed the offence on his being unfamiliar with the ban.

However, it doesn't answer questions as to why Imchen failed to inform the external affairs Ministry that he was going abroad, a protocol mandatory for all Government officials when they leave their country.

While the Minister was allowed to catch the afternoon flight on the same airline, there have been numerous instances of other unwary tourists facing greater trouble since they did not enjoy Ministerial status.

In November, two women from Champai, Mizoram were arrested at the Bhadrapur airport in eastern Nepal for carrying Rs 195,000 in 500 and 1000 rupee notes and sent to Kathmandu to be investigated by the revenue investigation department.

Their arrest was also mentioned in the regular crime bulletin issued by Nepal police.

The same month, British national, Venkatraman Jagannathan, was arrested at the Tribhuvan International Airport for carrying Rs 50,000 in 1,000-rupee notes.

In June 2009, New Delhi resident Anil Sharma had a harrowing time after he was found in possession of Rs 140,000 in 1,000-rupee notes.

Though the Kathmandu airport has a notice informing visitors that 500 and 1000 Indian rupee notes are banned in Nepal, most do not notice it and remain blithely unaware of the ban.

The curb came into effect almost 10 years ago after the Reserve Bank of India banned their use outside India to prevent the proliferation of fake Indian currency, an organised crime network believed to have its origin in cities in Pakistan under the patronage of the ISI.

The fake notes are flown or transported by land routes to Nepal, sometimes through Bangladesh, and then sent to India via the open border between India and Nepal.

Few tourists know that besides the 500 and 1000-rupee notes, even Indian currency of lower denominations�though used in Nepal�can send their possessors to prison if they are not Indians or Nepalis.

Western tourists who travel to Nepal through India are liable to be arrested and imprisoned if they carry a large sum of money in Indian currency, even though it is not in 500 and 1000-rupee notes.

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