‘We’re offered free trip to Colombo, then asked to bring a parcel’, says Navi Mumbai couple held with Rs 5 crore marijuana at Mumbai airport

The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Airport Customs Department got specific information about the couple bringing contraband in their trolley bag. Once the couple arrived at the Mumbai airport on Sunday evening, they were intercepted and taken aside for inspection.

The officials found three vacuum-packed packets containing suspicious contraband in their bags. On testing through the field testing kit, it was found that the suspicious contraband products, weighing 5 kilograms, were hydroponic weed (marijuana) worth Rs 5.45 crore in the illicit market, said a Customs officer.

Lawyer, Sunil Tiwari, who was representing the couple, submitted before the court, “The couple were allegedly lured into the crime, as they were approached on social media by an unknown person offering them a free trip to Colombo. They followed the process and got a visa and visited the country. While returning, the couple got a message from the stranger asking them to take a parcel containing chocolates and deliver it in Mumbai. They were not aware of the contraband in the parcel”.

The couple was arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and was produced in court on Monday. They were sent to judicial custody till October 27.

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