Customs seize hydroponic weed worth ₹13.92 crore

MUMBAI: Four men arrested at CSMIA for smuggling 13,923 grams of hydroponic weed worth ₹13.92 crore, concealed in trolley bags from Bangkok.

MUMBAI: Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the airport Customs on Friday arrested four people and seized 13,923 grams of hydroponic weed (cannabis), valued at around ₹13.92 crore in the illicit market, from them. Customs officers said the accused arrived at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) from Bangkok in two different flights, with the contraband concealed inside their trolley bags.

Customs seize hydroponic weed worth ₹13.92 crore

Pravin Kumar Singh, 22, Suraj Upadhyay, 23, Shivam Yadav, 20, and Mayank Dixit, 23, were arrested based on a tip-off. All the four accused hailed from Surat, Gujarat. First, Singh and Upadhyay were intercepted as they were arriving from Bangkok. Later, Dixit and Yadav, who had come in a different flight from Bangkok, were stopped, said an AIU official posted at CSMIA.

While checking their baggage, officers found the fruiting and flowering top of a plant, purported to be hydroponic weed, concealed inside a four-layered plastic bag, and placed under clothes in the trolley bag. “The contraband was valued at around ₹13.92 crores. We are trying to find out who gave them the bag,” said the official.

Advocate Prabhakar Tripathi, speaking on behalf of the accused, claimed they were victims of a larger conspiracy which lured them with the promise of a job and foodgrains if they moved to Bangkok. He alleged that upon returning, they were handed a packed bag and told it had chocolates, and the accused could not verify as it was packed.

They four men were booked under various sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act on Friday.