Hydroponic weed, diamonds and gold worth Rs 14 crore seized at Mumbai airport

Mumbai, Jan 3 (PTI) Customs authorities seized hydroponic weed, diamonds and gold, collectively worth about Rs 14 crore, at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport over two days and arrested an airport staffer and a few others, officials said on Saturday.

The seizures were made between December 30 and December 31 in separate cases, they said.

Officials from the Airport Commissionerate, Mumbai Customs Zone-III, confiscated 8.008 kg of suspected hydroponic weed from a passenger who had arrived from Bangkok, the official said.

The contraband is valued at around Rs 8.008 crore in the illicit market, he said, adding that the passenger was arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

In a separate case, 1.946 kg of suspected hydroponic weed worth about Rs 1.946 crore was recovered from a passenger who also had arrived from Bangkok, the official said.

Hydroponic weed, a potent and expensive form of ganja, is cultivated using water-based, nutrient-rich solutions instead of traditional soil methods.

Officials said a passenger was intercepted and 849.6 carats of diamonds, valued at about Rs 2.52 crore, were recovered from him. The precious stones had been allegedly concealed inside his body cavity, they said.

Customs also seized 1,470 grams of 24-carat gold dust in wax form, valued at around Rs 1.87 crore, from a passenger and a staffer attached to Air India Airport Services Limited (AIASL), an official said.

The gold dust was allegedly passed by one Bangladeshi transit passenger to another, who then handed it over to the AIASL employee inside the airport.

In another case, Customs booked a passenger after recovering 89 grams of 24-carat gold rhodium-plated buttons worth Rs 11.35 lakh, officials said.

Acting on specific information, a Customs team also recovered 160 grams of 24-carat gold worth Rs 20.41 lakh from two passengers, they said.

Efforts are being made to trace the wider networks linked to the seized gold, diamonds and drugs, the officials added. PTI DC NR