Mumbai ‘smuggler’ held at Surat airport, over 4 kg drugs seized

The police checked his two luggage trolleys to find eight packets of hybrid weed weighing 4035 grams, worth around Rs 1.41 crore. The teams also seized foreign currency. Forensic Science Laboratory officials examined the drugs and, after testing, identified the contraband as “hybrid weed.” Khan is a resident of Mumbra in Mumbai, who has been booked under several sections of the NDPS Act in the past.

Surat Police Commissioner Anupam Singh Gahlaut said, “The accused hid the drugs in toy boxes. It is likely that from here, he was to travel to Mumbai to deliver the drug consignment to someone. The accused works as a ‘courier’ for a drug cartel and was earning around Rs 1 lakh as a commission for each trip.”

Gahlaut added, “After checking his passport, we found that in the past three years, the accused made 27 international trips, with six trips each to Dubai and Bangkok, two to other destinations in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Cambodia, Bahrain, etc. He lands at different international airports across the country while returning from such trips.”

Gahlaut added, “In June, the wife of the accused was nabbed from Bengaluru international airport and around 7 kg of hybrid weed was found in her luggage. An alert had been sounded at multiple airports across the country against Khan.”

According to sources in the Surat crime branch, upon checking his background with the Mumbai Police, it was found that Khan was facing two criminal cases registered with different police stations in Mumbai in 2012: One in connection with theft and another over a brawl.

Police sources said Khan usually smuggled gold, mobile phones, and electronic gadgets to evade customs duty. In the past few trips, he had started smuggling hybrid weed, they added.

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