Woman held with 3.255 kg of hydroponic weed at Pune airport
Pune Customs officers arrested an Indian woman arriving from Bangkok after finding 3.255 kg of hydroponic weed, valued at Rs 1.14 crore, in false cavities of her check-in trolley bag. She flew in on Air India Express flight IX-291, and further investigation is under way.
🇮🇳 Pune International Airport, Lohegaon, Pune · India
Officers of the Air Intelligence Unit and Airport Batch of Pune Customs intercepted an Indian woman
arriving from Bangkok at Pune International Airport on the evening of 5 November 2026.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]She had flown in on Air India Express flight IX-291 and was stopped on
passenger profiling and a suspicious scan of her check-in baggage.[1][2][7][9][10]The woman, a Mumbai
resident, was arrested.[1][12][7][11]
In her check-in trolley bag officers found specially fabricated false cavities behind the inner
lining on both sides, holding two slab-shaped packets wrapped in three layers of vacuum-sealed black
plastic.[1][2][3][4][6][7][9][10][11]One account says only that the packets were hidden inside the bag.[7]A Narcotic Drug Field Testing Kit identified the contents as marijuana, also known as ganja or
hydroponic weed[1][4][9]; another account describes an orange-green dried substance with a strong
pungent odour, identified by a testing machine as high-grade hydroponic cannabis.[2]Customs seized
the consignment, weighing 3.255 kilograms, under the NDPS Act, 1985, and estimated its illicit-market
value at Rs 1.14 crore.[1][3][6][7][8][9][10][11]
An official said it appeared she had been handed the bag by smugglers, and sources said she had
travelled to Bangkok four days before.[12][9]Customs said the repeated seizures pointed to a
possible rise in demand for hydroponic weed in Pune and nearby cities, including ahead of Diwali.[12]It is investigating who else took part, on whose instructions the cannabis was smuggled and whom
it was meant for.[2][3][4][6][8][9][11]
Photos and video
Officers hold open a grey trolley bag showing the false cavity packed with black plastic-wrapped parcels, the concealment described in the case. Photo: PUNE PULSE (image circulated on WhatsApp, so its original photographer is not stated)Photo details
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Source: PUNE PULSEPhoto published with the ABP Majha report on the Pune airport seizure, captioned with the headline about ganja hidden in a special cavity in a trolley bag. Its original photographer and first source are not stated.Photo details
Divya Marathidivyamarathi.bhaskar.comMRबँकॉकहून आलेल्या महिलेकडून गांजा जप्त: पुणे विमानतळावर 3 किलो 255 ग्रॅम हायड्रोपोनिक गांजा सापडला; किंमत 1.14 कोटी रुपये
Pune Prime Newspuneprimenews.comMRबँकॉकहून आलेल्या महिलेकडून पुणे विमानतळावर १.१४ कोटींचा हायड्रोपोनिक गांजा जप्त; कस्टमची कारवाई
ABP Majhamarathi.abplive.comMRट्रॉली बॅगच्या खास कप्प्यात गांजा लपवला, तरीही अधिकाऱ्यांनी शोधून काढला, पुणे विमानतळावर मोठी कारवाई, तब्बल 1 कोटी 14 लाख रुपयांचा गांजा जप्त
ABP Majhamarathi.abplive.comMRट्रॉली बॅगच्या खास कप्प्यात गांजा लपवला, तरीही अधिकाऱ्यांनी शोधून काढला, पुणे विमानतळावर मोठी कारवाई, तब्बल 1 कोटी 14 लाख रुपयांचा गांजा जप्त
My Marathimymarathi.netMRबँकॉकहून पुण्यात आलेल्या महिलेच्या बॅगेत सापडला १.१४ कोटींचा गांजा; पुणे विमानतळावर कस्टम्सची मोठी कारवाई!
The woman's name, age and precise home address were not published; only that she is a Mumbai resident.
Rs 1.14 crore is Customs' estimated illicit-market value, not an independently confirmed price.
Identification of the substance rested on a field testing kit; no laboratory confirmation is reported.
No charge sheet, custody order or court outcome was reported; the case was at the investigation stage.
Whether the woman knowingly carried the consignment is not established; an official only said it prima facie appeared she was handed the bag.
The page photo carries no credit and its original photographer is not stated.
Pudhari dates the operation to the evening of Thursday 5 November but does not give a separate date for the arrest.
Pudhari gives no name, age or charge section, and no court or remand outcome for the woman.
The page photograph carries only the headline as its caption and no credit, so it is not treated as a confirmed picture of this seizure.
The article's related-news list includes other separate Pune airport seizures, which are not part of this case.
The post gives no name, age or residence for the woman beyond saying she is Indian.
The post repeats the arrest and continuing investigation without any court, remand or custody outcome.
The post gives the value as an approximate market price without saying how it was estimated.
The article gives no name, age, residence or home city for the woman, and no charge section beyond the NDPS Act.
The article gives no remand or court outcome; it says only that further investigation is under way.
The page's only image is a headline composite titled with the report headline, not identified as a photograph of this seizure, so it is not listed as media.
The Free Press Journal earlier published a separate report on the 10.642 kg seizure of 4 November, which is a different event recorded in its own report.
The Divya Marathi page is paywalled at the app-promotion point; only the first paragraph and the headline could be read, which limits what it can corroborate beyond the weight, value and concealment.
Pune Pulse, like the original page, gives no name, age, home address or flight details beyond IX-291 for the woman.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in PUNE PULSE: Sources said she had travelled to Bangkok four days before her arrival in Pune.
Pune Prime News describes the contents only as dried plant material of an orange-green colour, without the floral tops other outlets describe, though both identify it as hydroponic cannabis.
The article gives no name, age, home city or court or remand outcome for the woman; it says only that investigation is under way.
The article does not give the flight number, the woman's residence, the false-cavity concealment detail, the testing method or any court outcome.
ABP Majha gives no name, age, home city, charge section beyond the NDPS Act, or court or remand outcome for the woman.
The page photograph's original photographer and first publisher are not stated; ABP Majha may have republished another outlet's or an agency's image, so it is listed once here without a credit.
Lokshahi gives no name, age, home city, flight number or court or remand outcome for the woman, so nothing is added on those points.
The article does not state the testing method that identified the substance beyond saying the examination showed hydroponic ganja.
The Marathi and English editions are Lokshahi's own versions of the same article by the same author, so they are not an independent second account.
Lokshahi describes the packets as hidden inside the bag rather than inside a fabricated false cavity; both accounts describe the same black plastic wrapped parcels in her check-in trolley bag.
The My Marathi page gives no name, age or home city for the woman beyond saying she is an Indian national, and states that her identity and address have not been officially released.
The page gives no charge section beyond the NDPS Act, 1985, no custody or remand order and no court appearance for the woman.
The page's identification of the substance rested on a preliminary field testing-kit result, and it gives no laboratory confirmation.
The page describes the cut material only as an orange-green dried plant substance with a strong pungent smell rather than the floral tops other outlets describe, both being called hydroponic ganja.
The page also reports the separate 4 November 2026 seizure of 10.642 kg, which is a different event recorded in its own report and is not part of this case.
Mahabubabad district police destroyed 99.688 kg of dry ganja, valued at Rs 49.84 lakh, seized in 19 NDPS cases. The court-approved disposal took place at a biomedical waste facility at Gopalpet in Khammam district under the district Drug Disposal Committee.
Gurgaon Traffic Police intercepted two people carrying cannabis at Nainwal Cut in Manesar and recovered 12kg, handing them to the local police station for investigation. The seizure was reported as part of traffic police crime-prevention work over the past 30 days.
Police in Bihar's Kosi division seized 8,254.794 kilograms of ganja during an ongoing anti-narcotics campaign across Saharsa, Supaul and Madhepura districts launched in February 2026. Authorities sent 2,717 suspected traffickers to jail across all contraband categories, with recent weekly operations recovering another 52.1 kg of ganja and arresting 13 people on dry-narcotics offences.
A joint GRP, RPF and NCB team seized 31.15 kg of ganja in seven packets from a minor carrying two bags on train No. 19484 at Ara Junction. The child was sent to a remand home for production before the Juvenile Justice Board.