Has Bhubaneswar airport turned into illegal gateway for smuggling of gold and ganja consignments? 

The Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar is one of the busiest and fastest-growing airports in the country. Of late, there has been a rise in the incidents of seizure of gold, marijuana and other narcotics from the Bhubaneswar airport.

Recently, hydroponic weed worth Rs 4 crore from a passenger at Bhubaneswar airport. The officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had informed the Customs and other officials regarding the passenger from Kerala travelling from Bangkok.

On systematic search of his check-in baggage, food packets were found. A greenish substance in lumpy form was recovered from these packets, which tested positive for Cannabis.

Also Read: Rs 9 Cr Ganja seizure at Bhubaneswar airport: International syndicate behind racket!

This marks another significant breakthrough in tackling drug smuggling through Bhubaneswar airport, which has emerged as a key gateway in cannabis distribution networks. In a span of just 15 days, officials have intercepted marijuana consignments valued at Rs 15 crore.

In an earlier incident, 9 kilograms of marijuana was allegedly seized from two women from West Bengal. They were intercepted arriving from Kuala Lumpur.

Preliminary findings suggest that the narcotics were processed in Germany before being smuggled into India via Malaysia. 

Following the back-to-back seizures of marijuana, it is suspected that an international gang is behind the racket of smuggling the contraband through the Bhubaneswar airport.

Not only ganja, the officials had also detected cases of gold smuggling by passengers travelling via Bhubaneswar airport.

In May 2024, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 3.77 kg of gold valued at Rs. 2.79 crore from four passengers at the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar.

Also Read: 3.77 kg gold seized from 4 passengers at Bhubaneswar airport

The four passengers had arrived from Dubai in Bhubaneswar on May 6. During questioning, the passengers revealed that all of them had attempted to smuggle gold in paste form by concealing it in their rectum. Subsequently, 12 capsules containing gold in paste form were recovered from them.

Also Read: Rs 75 lakh cash seized from 2 passengers at Bhubaneswar airport; IT dept starts probe