Indian man arriving from Bangkok arrested with weed worth ₹3 crore

MUMBAI: Customs arrested Mohammed Shareef at the airport for smuggling 3 kg of hydroponic weed from Bangkok, valued at ₹3 crore.

MUMBAI: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Customs Department on Saturday night arrested a man at Mumbai’s international airport for allegedly having three kilograms of hydroponic weed in his luggage. The contraband was seized and interrogation revealed that the accused is a native of Kerala and was on his way to deliver to a dealer in Bengaluru.

Indian man arriving from Bangkok arrested with weed worth ₹3 crore

The accused, identified as Mohammed Shareef, worked as an accountant and had a part-time job as real estate broker. He earned ₹20,000 per month. “He was voluntarily involved in the illegal smuggling of drugs. This was his first time,” said a Customs official.

Around 11pm on Saturday, he came from Bangkok at Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) by the Thai Lion airline. AIU officers were checking passengers at the airport based on specific intelligence, and nabbed Shareef, who was holding an Indian passport.

No contraband was found with him, but his baggage contained six tightly packed, transparent plastic bags filled with dry leaf substances, said an official. During interrogation the suspect confessed that the substances were hydroponic weed. Samples from the bags were collected and tested positive using a narcotic drug field testing kit. The weed weighed around 3.004 kilograms, having an international market value of ₹3 crore.

During interrogation, the accused confessed that he went to Bangkok from Bangalore airport on March 27 to purchase hydroponic weed. From Mumbai, he had planned to travel to Bengaluru to deliver the contraband to the main accused who resides in Bengaluru. He was promised ₹1.5 lakh per kilogram.

During interrogation, the accused said he had taken a loan of ₹1.20 lakh, using which he purchased foreign currencies of 5300 Saudi Riyal and 750 USD before going to Bangkok. He spent over ₹60 thousand rupees to purchase the hydroponic weed. Shareef was arrested under the charges of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act on Saturday, produced before the court and remanded in custody.