Marijuana worth Rs 4 crore seized at Bhubaneswar Airport, couple held

In a major crackdown on narcotics smuggling, officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized marijuana valued at around Rs 4 crore from Bhubaneswar International Airport on Saturday.

According to sources, the contraband was being smuggled from Bangkok to Bhubaneswar when it was intercepted by Customs officials during routine checks. Acting on intelligence inputs, the DRI team recovered the narcotics concealed in the luggage of two passengers.

A man and a woman, who had arrived on an international flight, have been detained in connection with the case. Both are currently being interrogated to ascertain the source of the consignment and the network involved in the smuggling operation.

Officials confirmed that further investigation is underway to trace the wider links of the drug syndicate and identify potential collaborators both in India and abroad.

According to sources, the arrested persons are a couple, a youth, and his girlfriend, and they have a previous travel history to Thailand. 

Recently, on August 2, ganja worth around Rs 8 crore was seized at Biju Patnaik International Airport. The contraband was being smuggled from Thailand via an IndiGo flight when it was intercepted by the DRI officials. Authorities had apprehended one accused, a resident of Ahmedabad, in connection with the case.

Similarly, on July 29, hydroponic marijuana worth over Rs 30 crore was seized at Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar. The contraband, commonly referred to as ‘hydroponic weed’, was recovered from six bags arriving on a flight from Bangkok. The DRI had detained three passengers in connection with the case.