CHENNAI: Following increased scrutiny by Indian enforcement agencies, drug traffickers from foreign countries have started choosing roundabout flights, taking a stopover in Gulf countries or Sri Lanka.
Additionally, mules have also started concealing drugs in their hand baggage instead of check-in luggage; this was evident in the Chennai Customs’ bust of 5.6kg of cocaine from two Indian passengers who came from Ethiopia and another recent case of hydroponic ganja trafficked from Thailand.
According to official sources, drug trafficking gangs have been stung by the series of seizures of narcotics by the Customs, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) at India’s airports.
Sources said that baggage of passengers returning on direct flights from Thailand are immediately set aside for scrutiny if scanning shows images of any food items packed in vacuum bags, as hydroponic ganja is usually concealed in such packaging.
At least 20kg of the drug has been seized at Chennai airport this year, while in a single case in Hyderabad, the NCB seized 40kg on July 30. Moreover, in August alone, the DRI has seized 43kg of the drug at Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar from Bangkok-return passengers.
To circumvent this, mules or ‘carriers’ are now taking roundabout flights to India, with a stopover in Sri Lanka, Dubai or some other city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Similarly, instead of landing with a cocaine consignment brought from African countries at Mumbai or Delhi, mules are sent via Chennai and then asked to take a domestic flight.
Explaining the rationale behind this, a senior official said that this modus is used to throw enforcement agencies off the scent; the logic is that Customs officials would only look at the passenger’s boarding airport and not the one where they would have started their journey and hence would not set aside their baggage for intensive checking.
To thwart this, Customs officials are now carefully scanning itineraries for comprehensive passenger profiling, the official added.
Officials are also stunned that drug traffickers are daring enough to conceal the contraband in their hand luggage under the impression that it is not checked as intensively. The usual modus is to conceal cocaine in a special compartment inside a suitcase; hydroponic ganja in vacuum-sealed plastic bags which are kept hidden amidst clothes in a similar suitcase, which is then checked in.
In Monday’s seizure at Chennai, the cocaine was inside innocuous chocolate cans ‘hidden in plain sight’ in the hand luggage. Official sources said that agencies have taken note of this and will be reviewing their strategies to effect more seizures.