The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials in continuation to their operations carried out against export of drugs through courier to international destinations, on Thursday seized 53.5 grams of black coloured sticky substance purported to be cannabis concealed in clothing items (two jeans) destined to Kuwait. This week, the NCB had seized contrabands worth Rs 13 crore destined to various countries including Australia and the Middle East.
Speaking about the operation, NCB Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede said, "On receipt of specific information that contraband is being smuggled through a courier, the NCB team conducted a search operation at air courier in Andheri and intercepted a consignment. Thorough examination of the said consignment revealed that 53.5 grams of black coloured sticky substance purported to be cannabis were concealed in clothing items (two Jeans). The said consignment was destined to Kuwait."
The NCB officials had carried out six different operations from December 10 to December 14 at various places of Mumbai and had seized a total 2.296 kilograms of Amphetamine, 3.906 kilograms of Opium and 2.525 kilograms of Zolpidem tablets. The total value of seized contraband as per the NCB was Rs 13 crore. The agency sources said that the contraband seized from all the operations were destined to be smuggled to foreign countries such as Maldives, Australia, Texas in USA, Dubai, New Zealand and Switzerland, through air courier in Andheri. The agency had also intercepted one Ivorian national, in one of the operations.
"In our previous six cases, three consignments are believed to have been looked after by a single cartel. The emerging trend in these cases is that some destinations where drugs were being smuggled are unusual, such as Kuwait. On Monday, a consignment destined to Texas, USA, of 2.525 kilograms of Zolpidem tablets which was concealed in eatables and grocery items was seized. One person has been detained in this case and the suspect is being questioned," said an NCB official.
