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The Air Intelligence Unit of the Pune Customs this week seized Methaqualone, a banned hypnotic sedative, worth Rs 2.6 crore from a woman passenger returning from Bangkok. The woman was arrested, officials said, adding that the drugs were concealed in coffee packaging in her checked-in luggage.
Investigators said that the weight of seized Methaqualone was 5,234.7 gm, valued at around Rs 2.61 crore in the illicit market.
“Acting on specific intelligence, officers from the Air Intelligence Unit at Pune International Airport intercepted one passenger arriving from Bangkok on Air India Express Flight IX-241 on September 18. A search of the check-in luggage bag revealed white substance in powder and crystal form weighing 5.23 kilograms. Field testing confirmed the substance to be Methaqualone. The contraband was seized, and the passenger was arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Further Investigation is ongoing,” an official said.
The woman was allegedly acting as a drug mule, and authorities have launched an investigation into her backward and forward linkages.
Methaqualone, which was synthesised as a sedative in the 1950s, has, over the decades, been abused as a narcotic drug. It has been brought under restricted schedules in various countries. It is sold under names such as Quaalude and Sopor and also as Mandrax when in combination with Diphenhydramine.
In August 2023, in one of the largest ever drugs bust in Pune, the Pune Regional Unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had seized over 101 kg of Methaqualone and had probed a suspected multi-state cartel with overseas links.
In January 2024, the Pune City Police had arrested a 27-year-old Angolan national, who was in India on a student visa, in a raid conducted near a residential society in Kondhwa and had seized over 12 grams of Methaqualone from him.
