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A female flight attendant and another man have been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle nearly $500,000 (£368,580) in foreign exchange out of India, revenue officials said.

The woman was on a Jet Airways flight from Delhi to Hong Kong when she was caught with the money in her luggage, an official told the ´óÏó´«Ã½.

"There could be more arrests of a similar nature," he added.

The airline said they would not tolerate illegal activity from staff.

In a statement, Jet Airways confirmed that the employee had been arrested.

The money that was recovered, which amounts to around 3m rupees, was mostly in $100 notes, an official from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) told the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s Devina Gupta.

It was wrapped in foil paper, which the airport scanner was not able to detect easily, local media reports said.

The DRI confirmed to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ that they had "identified the handler who was co-ordinating this operation", which they said had been going on for the past six months.

The PTI news agency quoted an official saying the alleged handler "would collect money from some bullion dealers in Delhi and send it via some air hostess to select foreign destinations".

"The money was being used for purchasing gold abroad. The gold would then be sent to India illegally," the official said.