Kannur (Kerala) | Five Tamil Nadu natives were caught by Excise officials from Kannur district in Kerala on Tuesday for allegedly smuggling over Rs 1 crore in cash into the state from neighbouring Karnataka, the department said.

The five men were caught from a tourist bus during routine checking of vehicles passing through the Koottupuzha check post in the northern district here, a senior Excise official said.

"They were carrying the cash strapped to their bodies on the waist and underneath their seats. We recovered around Rs 1.12 crore from them," the official said.

The Tamil Nadu natives, who were between the ages of 30 and 50 years, revealed that they had boarded the bus from Bengaluru with the cash and were travelling to Kozhikode to buy gold, the official said.

He said that after the amount was verified as per due procedure, the five men would be handed over to the police.