MUMBAI, January 16: The Air Intelligence Unit of the customs yesterday arrested one Birendra Kumar Rai, allegedly the brain behind an international drug smuggling racket employing airline staffers as couriers. The investigators recovered two unlicensed loaded revolvers and chemicals used for processing drugs from Rai's residence at Kalina, Santa Cruz. Rai and another accomplice, Anil Kumar Rai, who was also picked up during investigations, were produced before the sessions courts today.Last October, an Air-India Commander, Darius Dastoor, was nabbed by the airline's security officials shortly before boarding a flight with several packets of heroin concealed in a suitcase. The contraband weighing 1.8 kgs was worth Rs two crore in the international market. Subsequently, two former AI employees, Dinshaw Pastakia and Bawne Rego, along with their accomplice Banwarilal Somani were arrested. Incidentally, Pastakia was dismissed from the services from Air-India for his involvement in a smuggling racket in the eighties.Customs officials said Rai was wanted by several enforcement agencies and had been on the run for several years. He had allegedly established a base at his hometown in Uttar Pradesh to process and despatch drugs to several points around the world.
