Hydroponic weed worth ₹22 Cr seized from passengers at CSMIA

Customs at Mumbai airport seized 22kg of hydroponic weed worth ₹22 crore from two passengers from Bangkok, arresting them under the NDPS Act.

MUMBAI: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the customs department on Monday seized 22kg of hydroponic weed worth around ₹22 crore at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) from two separate passengers who arrived from Bangkok.

Hydroponic weed worth ₹22 Cr seized from passengers at CSMIA

For several months, the officials were working on the profile of the suspects arrested earlier by using the supplier’s modus operandi and strategy, said customs officials. Based on the profiling, the officers intercepted two passengers.

In the first case, the officials laid a trap at certain places near the green channel for clearance and nabbed a passenger at CSMIA. The agency recovered ₹8.337 kilograms hydroponic weed (Marijuana), valued at around ₹8.337 crore.

Another team managed to intercept another passenger and seized 14 kg of hydroponic weed from his possession. The contraband has an illicit market value of around ₹14 crore. In both cases, the contraband was concealed in vacuum sealed packets that were stored inside food packets carried in their baggage. Both were arrested under relevant sections of the NDPS Act for supplying drugs illegally in the Mumbai city.

AIU seizes 3.9kg gold worth 3.5 cr at airport

The AIU of the customs department on Saturday seized 3.976 kg of smuggled gold, with market value of around ₹3.5 crore. Using a profiling system developed based on previous suspects arrested, AIU officers kept discreet surveillance on a transit passenger who had arrived from Dubai to Mumbai.

A private airport staff and the transit passenger were intercepted right after the officers observed the passenger handing over an item to the staff. An official said that during interrogation, the staff confessed that 12 pieces of gold dust in wax form was handed over to him by the suspected passenger. The gold was hidden inside transparent self-sealing pouches and placed in the staff’s pant pockets. Both of them are arrested under the Customs Act, added the official.