Chennai, Oct 4 (PTI) Hydroponic ganja worth Rs 5.2 crore was seized from a passenger at the Chennai International Airport here, the Customs department said on Sunday.
Based on passenger profiling, officers of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU), Chennai Customs intercepted a male passenger, who had arrived at the airport from Bangkok on October 2, K M Guru Rajesh, Joint Commissioner of Customs, Chennai International Airport here said in a release.
Accordingly, the passenger attempted to exit through the Green Channel without making any declaration to Customs.
Upon detailed examination of his checked-in baggage, 26 transparent airtight packets containing dried greenish-brown flowering and fruiting tops of a plant,suspected to be high-grade hydroponically cultivated Cannabis (Ganja), were recovered.
The packets were ingeniously concealed inside Thai food packets.
The recovered contraband weighed 15.02 kilograms and tested positive for Ganja/Marijuana using the Narcotic Drug Detection Kit (NDDK).
The contraband was seized under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The seized drug worth approximately Rs.5.26 Crores in the illicit market.
The passenger has been arrested under the relevant provisions of the NDPS Act and remanded to judicial custody.
Further investigation is in progress.
Chennai Customs also advised the public, particularly the youth, to remain vigilant against offers of sponsored foreign travel and easy money for carrying unknown baggage on their return journey. PTI SNR SNR ROH
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