CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu police have recently written to Chennai Customs seeking information on their investigations into the multiple seizures of drugs, especially hydroponic weed, mainly at the Chennai International Airport, sources said.
A senior official said that the state police unit wants to understand if the drugs brought by carriers from foreign countries are meant for distribution in Tamil Nadu or if the state is merely a transit point. The Customs information would be useful to track and profile the suspects, and develop strategies to curb the sale and distribution, the official added.
Another critical piece of information requested was if the Customs investigation had indicated the possibility of organised crime rackets managing transnational drug trafficking. A key pointer that the police wanted to understand was if the Customs had cases where drugs were being sent to or received from Sri Lanka, especially through TN coastal districts, sources said.
Besides a few cases of cocaine smuggled from African and South American countries, the majority of the recent seizures by Chennai Air Customs has been of hydroponic weed smuggled by passengers from Thailand. The biggest seizure of 23.5 kg of this cannabis, worth `23.5 crore, was made last week.
These issues were also discussed at the inter-agency coordination meeting on January 31 in Egmore. According to sources, a presentation by the Customs indicated that the spurt in smuggling of hydroponic weed from Thailand has been witnessed in all major airports of India and is not restricted to Chennai. A key input shared by the central agencies was that the carriers smuggling the weed from Thailand, after delivering it, stay in a local hotel till they are given their next assignment.
The discussion also pertained to other drugs; while cocaine is smuggled from African and South American countries, the number of seizures made by the Chennai Customs has been fewer as compared to those of hydroponic weed.