KOCHI: The Cochin International Airport, the fourth largest international airport in the country in terms of handling international pax, seems to be fast becoming a major transit point for the international drug cartels and gold smugglers involved in the transnational illegal trade after a hiatus. Of late, the cargo terminal and passenger terminals are equally finding place in the crime record books of enforcement agencies in the wake of a spurt in seizure of drugs and golds from the airport.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and Narcotic Control Bureau have made two back-to-back seizures from the cargo terminal of the airport recently. While the NCB sleuths seized around 19 kgs of ephedrine worth over Rs 1 crore in the international market, which was bound for Malaysia, from the air cargo terminal of the airport last week, the DRI seized around 55 kg ephedrine from a Kuala Lumpur-bound aircraft from the airport in last August. This is not the first time party drugs like ephedrine are seized from the airport. Earlier, the Customs officials had arrested a 46-year-old South African woman for possessing 14 kg of white ephedrine powder at the airport in 2015. A Zimbabwean woman, Cellia Dhomingo, was arrested by the officials at the CIAL for trying to smuggle around 20 kg of ephedrine. But the latest back-to-back seizures in two months have drawn the attention of authorities.
A senior DRI official said there has been adequate evidence to prove that the drug cartels operating, chiefly in Tamil Nadu, are trying to use Kochi airport as one of their transit points. The Customs officials who intercepted around 17 gold carriers, including a foreign national in the last one week, hinted that the cargo terminal was more vulnerable for the smuggling activities than the passenger terminal. There has been some limitations to subject all the cargo consignments under the strict scrutiny of enforcement agencies.
Normally, the cargo companies which often import and export various goods on regular intervals will not go for such malpractice as they know how difficult it would be to get clearance next time once their shipment is caught. Some fly-by-night operators using fake registration details are behind the smuggling activities in majority of cases.
In one instance, the consignment carrying 55 kg ephedrine, a controlled medication and stimulant used to make amphetamines and methamphetamine, was loaded into an aircraft heading for Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia after routine security clearance and the contraband was taken into custody from the aircraft. The investigation into the incident is yet to make any headway. In most such seizures, the address of the target client and exporter from here will be bogus. However, in the backdrop of the spurt in both gold and narcotic stuffs, the enforcement agencies have intensified vigil across the airport, said officials.
Back-to-back seizures
Of late, the cargo terminal and passenger terminals are equally finding place in the crime record books of enforcement agencies in the wake of a spurt in seizure of drugs and golds from the airport.