Customs officers at Chennai International Airport arrested a 27-year-old youth from Kerala who had returned from Thailand as a tourist.[1] He had flown from Bangkok via Kuala Lumpur on a private passenger flight that reached Chennai early the previous morning.[1] Officers grew suspicious of him, stopped him for questioning, and said he did not cooperate properly.[1] Officers then searched his belongings.[1] After the seizure he was produced in court and lodged in Puzhal prison.[1] Investigators said the educated graduate was unemployed and had been acting as a courier for a drug-smuggling gang.[1]
His baggage held processed-food packets, among which officers found packets hiding high-grade hydroponic ganja.[1] The Air Intelligence Unit intercepted him on spot profiling.[2] A detailed examination of his checked-in baggage found 10 transparent packets containing green-coloured flowering and fruiting tops suspected to be hydroponically cultivated cannabis.[2] The packets weighed 4,970 grams and had been hidden inside food packets in his trolley suitcase.[2] Customs valued the haul at around Rs 5 crore in the illicit market.[2] A field drug-testing kit confirmed the substance was cannabis.[2] Officers seized the cannabis under Section 43 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.[2] The passenger was arrested and remanded to judicial custody.[2]
Officials said smuggling syndicates fund young people’s travel and accommodation and use them to carry contraband into India.[2] The case was described as the third such seizure at Chennai airport within a week.[2] Customs were continuing to investigate the gang that allegedly lured him with promises and used him as a courier.[1]
