A surprise raid conducted by Indigo security staff members, Agartala Airport, revealed a large consignment of cannabis hidden in pineapple packets after scanning the supposed consignment for Dubai.
The staff straightaway informed the police and the Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of New Capital Complex (NCC) Dhruba Nath rushed to the airport and with the help of airport security personnel seized the cannabis.
SDPO Nath reported, “There were a total of 22 large packets of pineapple which were supposed to be sent by air to Kolkata and around 10 kg of cannabis were kept hidden in each of the packets.”
On Sunday afternoon, the packets of pineapples were ready for dispatch through an Indigo flight from Agartala airport.
In the meantime, Soumitra Chakraborty, a staff member of Pawan Cargo Forwards Pvt. Ltd., who had taken the consignment was detained by the police and is being interrogated, the police informed.
Chakraborty told the police, “After booking the consignment, I had wrapped it, put the booking number and sent it for X-ray scanning where the Indigo security staff members found cannabis inside it.”
The packets of pineapples weighing about 220 kg were allegedly booked by Dipankar Das from Barjala area of Agartala for one Rakesh Sharma of Kolkata, a local news agency reported.
A manhunt has been launched by the police to trace the sender of the consignment and investigations are underway.
Also Read: Himachal Pradesh: Drive against opiates unfair for Marijuana use?
In another similar incident on July 22, the Goa Police busted a marijuana (cannabis) cultivation racket being by two Russian nationals supposedly in the backyard of a house along a coastal village of Goa.
Illegal possessions for import and export worth Rs 10 lakh surmounting to around 30kg of the banned drug were seized by the police.
Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch) Karthik Kashyap reported that the two Russians allegedly identified as Maxim Moskichev and Artem Seregin, were cultivating marijuana, a banned recreational drug, at a rented premise in Goa’s Siolim village in “laboratory conditions”.
“Crime branch officials have booked the two Russian nationals in two different cases under various sections of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act,” Kashyap added.
The rise of the use of the drug and debates on the legalization of the substance over the world has taken a rampant toll on its consumers.
Also Read: Divine: Warns, shoots Chillum with ‘Kaam 25’, Sacred Games track