Man held at Pune Airport for smuggling hydroponic weed worth Rs 10.5 crore

Customs officials have identified the passenger as Abhinay Amarnath Yadav.

Pune International Airport drug seizure, hydroponic weed smuggling Pune, Abhinay Amarnath Yadav arrested,

An offence was lodged against the accused Yadav under sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. (Express photo)

Officials of the Customs department nabbed a passenger at the Pune International Airport in Lohegaon with possession of 10.47 kilograms of “hydroponic weed”, a banned narcotics drug.

Customs officials have identified the passenger as Abhinay Amarnath Yadav.

A press release issued on Friday stated that Yadav landed at the Pune International Airport from Bangkok by an Indigo Flight on Thursday.

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Customs officials intercepted him at the Airport. During searches, 10.47 kilograms of hydroponic weed estimated at Rs 10.5 crores in illicit market, was seized from his possession, the press release stated.

An offence was lodged against the accused Yadav under sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

A court remanded him to judicial custody today. Further investigation is on to know from where he procured the marijuana and whether he is part of any larger drugs smuggling racket.

Last week, in a joint operation, the Military Intelligence (MI) unit of the Indian Army’s Southern Command and anti-narcotics cell of the Pune city police had arrested two persons in possession of Mephedrone.

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Police have identified the suspects as Abhinav Pradip Gupta (22) of Lakshmi Parvati society in Shivane and Irshad Iftiqar Shaikh (27) of Parge Nagar, Kondhwa.

Police said 8.28 grams of “OG Kush“estimated at Rs 82,800 was also allegedly seized from Gupta, who is a criminal on police record.

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