The shoes of the passengers in which the contraband was hidden
Pune: Customs officials late on Tuesday arrested a passenger on an Air India Express Bangkok-Pune flight at the city airport with 387.21 grams of hashish, or cannabis extract, hidden in his shoes.
“The cost of the contraband is around Rs 13.44 lakh in the illegal market. “The suspected contraband was seized under the relevant provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
Officials said specific intelligence and passenger profiling helped them arrest the suspect, who hails from Ulhasnagar. The operation unearthed a novel modus operandi involving customised footwear,” a customs official said. The shoes appeared unusually heavy, with suspiciously thick soles,” the official said, adding that upon carefully cutting open the inner soles of both shoes, the officers detected specially fabricated cavities concealing packets wrapped in black cloth and attached with red adhesive tape. Our statutory search and seizure proceedings were conducted in terms of the NDPS Act,” another official said.
“We examined the passenger’s cabin and checked his baggage. It, however, yielded no result. The officers then noticed that the passenger was wearing black sports shoes. “The packets contained a dark brown/black semi-solid waxy substance. It tested positive for cannabis extract upon field testing,” the official added.
The accused has been remanded in judicial custody till Nov 7 by the court. Earlier, the customs authorities on Oct 20 busted another smuggling attempt, which also had a novel way of hiding the contraband. The hydroponic weed worth Rs 44.27 lakh was hidden in false cavities created inside the trolley bag.
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We are investigating the case,” the official said. “The passenger was produced before a judicial magistrate. Download the TOI App.