KOCHI: With the Rs 200 crore-seizure of MDMA from a parcel company in Kochi on Saturday and an increase in drug and narcotic cases in the city, Customs officers are undergoing training sessions to effectively tackle and detect such cases.
The 'Drug Law Administration and Legal Matter' workshop by Babu Lal Soni, former additional commissioner, Customs, and presently a consultant with the department, instructs officers on trends adopted by smugglers and drug peddlers.
"He is taking officers through concealment methods, intelligence gathering, identification and spot testing of drugs," said Customs commissioner Sumit Kumar. "On the legal side, the officers will be trained on litigation management, prosecution technicalities, enforcement laws and appeals made before the Supreme and High Court."
The workshop, being held at Customs House, started on Monday and will conclude on Friday.
Meanwhile, gold worth Rs 50 lakh were seized by the Customs Department in six separate cases at Nedumbassery airport since September 27. This includes 1.15 kg of gold caught from a woman in pardha. In one case, a passenger hailing from Kozhikode was intercepted for smuggling 613 gram gold in compound paste form.
In Kozhikode airport, 10 gold smuggling cases were detected. As many as 4.185 kg of gold worth Rs 1.23 crore was recovered since September 26. The Kannur Customs Preventive Division detected a gold smuggling case in which attempts were made to smuggle in more than 1 kg of gold worth more than Rs 43 crore. The same unit also made a seizure of Rs 1.20 crore worth of foreign currency.