Madras, October 26: A huge basket of foreign currencies and securities, equivalent to about Rs 30 lakhs, held by Indians in banks abroad have been detected by the Central authorities.

Nuclear scientists, engineers, and economists of Karnataka, doctors of Calcutta and East African repatriates in Bombay, account for a big chunk of the over 400 cases that have come to light. The drive launched early this year, gained momentum in recent months and paid rich dividends in August and September, during which a majority of these cases were discovered.

Quite a few of the cases, officials say are from Karnataka and the persons involved belong to various professions, who managed to secure employment in West European countries. In West Asia also, the State has contributed a bulk of semi-skilled craftsmen, like tailors and carpenters.

Of late, there has been a big spurt in the number of Indians going abroad on assignments from the United Nations and other international agencies, or seeking lucrative positions in West Asian and West European countries.

As part of the crackdown on smuggling activity, the Central authorities started enquiries about the various persons who went for employment abroad and returned to India after the tenure of their duties outside but retained their foreign bank accounts. This type of foreign holdings is lapped by foreign exchange racketeers to finance smuggling into India.