Chennai customs bust hydroponic ganja racket
Chennai: The arrest of two mules in recent weeks has seen the Chennai airport customs bust a reinvented modus operandi of drug smugglers using Sri Lanka as a transit point to bring in high-potent ganja varieties into the country.
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On Tuesday, the air intelligence unit (AIU) team, based on intelligence, intercepted a man who arrived from Bangkok, Thailand, via Colombo. When his checked-in baggage was examined, the AIU team found some suspicious looking food packets emitting a strong odour. Six such transparent packets containing green flowering and fruiting tops, weighing 2.8kg, were seized. Testing of the samples using the field drug testing kit confirmed that it was marijuana.
It was seized under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
Interrogation revealed that the flyer was promised 1.2 lakh if he delivered the contraband in Bengaluru. He had planned to reach Bengaluru by road if not caught at Chennai airport. While he was remanded in judicial custody on Thursday, customs sleuths said the six kg hydroponic ganja seized on May 16 was also smuggled from Thailand via Colombo.
The contraband was hidden within 13 sealed packets disguised as 'Ritz toasted chips and multigrain tortilla chips'.
Officials suspect that the smugglers might have used Sri Lanka as a transit point to reach Chennai to avoid suspicion since suspected flyers arriving from Bangkok undergo rigorous checking by customs at Chennai airport. "Smugglers bringing drugs via Sri Lanka is not new, but now they have changed the modus operandi since vigilance is tight at Chennai airport," said sources.
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Customs sleuths also said that in both incidents, the final destination of the drug was Bengaluru, not Chennai, and they are investigating if the same gang is behind both incidents.
Meanwhile, customs sleuths arrested an Indian male passenger who arrived from Thailand on Thursday in possession of 2.4 kg hydroponic weed wrapped in silver foils. The passenger was arrested and remanded in judicial custody. Chennai customs also made another seizure of 1 kg hydroponic ganja that was couriered from Thailand on June 3. Customs officers at the Postal Appraising Department (PAD) checked a package after suspicious results from X-ray scanning and discovered two packets of hydroponic weed, weighing a total of 1.022kg.
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