The past few months can be termed ‘innovative’ when describing drug smuggling in and out of Bengaluru city. Smuggling has always involved ingenuity. One of the earliest documented examples of smuggling – that of silkworm cocoons from out of China into Europe – involved a two year operation, culminating in a pair of monks smuggling the cocoons in the hollows of their bamboo staffs.
Smugglers out of Bengaluru have smuggled contraband worth over Rs 18 crore including cocaine, ephedrine and hashish this financial year. The most recent attempt involved a fake wedding for which invitation cards were printed and a bogus designer whose garment spools were being exported — with drugs hidden in ingenious fashion.
The Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) and its cargo section are where most of these drug smuggling activities come to light. The Customs authorities have noticed a significant uptick in attempts to smuggle drugs out of Bengaluru this year. On February 18, sleuths of the Customs Intelligence Unit at the air cargo section of the Bangalore Customs spotted a unique cargo — 45 spools of embroidery lace for garments. “The consignment of the spools as part of shipment of designer clothes was booked to Australia from Madurai by a Chennai-based exporter. We felt that there was something amiss about the shipment and opened out the garment laces to find tiny tubes of plastic with a white powdered rolled inside. Tests later determined it as ephedrine, a banned drug,” said an investigating officer with the Customs at KIA Cargo.
The ephedrine that was discovered weighed a total of 5.11kg - worth a whopping Rs 5 crore in the international market. An investigation into the Chennai-based exporter showed that it was a bogus company. Why the Bengaluru cargo terminal was chosen for the smuggling is being examined.
Fake wedding
Shockingly, before the drug smuggling investigation could make headway, the same KIA cargo unit received another suspicious consignment on February 22. This time, many wedding invitations–along with clothes and other items – was part of a consignment for an Australian destination. “This was within a week of the first case and what we did was immediately check if the wedding mentioned in the cards scheduled to be held on April 30, 2020 in Chennai was true. It turned out to be fake and we opened all the 43 fancy invites and were stunned to find powdered ephedrine smartly hidden. We haven’t found anything like this before,” said another officer who dealt the case.
The ephedrine drugs, this time worth Rs. 5.05 crore, was also sent from Chennai. Customs sleuths believe that both these attempts to smuggle ephedrine were part of a larger operation. A thorough probe is under-way into the source of the drugs but progress has not been speedy.
Salahuddin (name changed), from Kozhikode in Kerala, has links here with gold smuggling rackets operating between the Bengaluru and the Gulf. He claims to have helped recruit mules to smuggle gold into Bengaluru for a fee, apart from free tickets for the journey. “The drug game is big and murky involving big players who are literally invincible and invisible to the lower ranks. These consignments are booked using fake addresses and people moving them often don’t have a clue on who gives them the orders as they are directed through the cellphone. So it becomes difficult for investigators to find the links,” he said.
Inside players hint at extremely innovative methods of drug and gold smuggling to avoid detection from the eyes of Customs authorities at KIA. “Bengaluru is dubbed as an easy spot for smuggling activity as the rackets are well aware that the city airport is huge and enforcement agencies inside are severely short staffed,” revealed Shaji, another Kerala-native who used to be a carrier. He refused to identify himself beyond the name citing pending investigations against him.
Big fishes, drugs in pads
The sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) who are also a key enforcement agency monitoring drug and gold smuggling through Bengaluru airport had nabbed what they called a ‘big fish’ in the recent months. February again witnessed the arrest of notorious Keralabased gold smuggler Shihabudheen Thadathil who runs a big racket smuggling gold between Bengaluru and the Gulf. His carriers use methods like body pouches and gold as paste stuck to the body. “The 46-year-old smuggling kingpin, as per our investigation, had managed to smuggle in 200 kgs of gold between June and October 2018 alone. He has been operating for over a decade and we had a look out circular issued against his passport which ultimately resulted in his arrest at Bengaluru airport on February 7th,” said a senior DRI investigator.
The DRI also busted a gang with their mule who attempted to smuggle out hashish worth over Rs 30 lakh inside cereal boxes meticulously hidden inside his check-in luggage.
However, the most novel method of them all was a drug smuggling attempt inside sanitary napkins and the carrier was a woman to avoid detection by authorities. Last year, the Bengaluru unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), busted the connecting gang operating from Austin Town who used to recruit women to smuggle hard drugs by air into the Gulf and seized 510gm of methamphetamine and 572 Lyrica, a sedative capsule, hidden in sanitary pads.
“The enforcement agencies remain vigilant and items for export and luggage items are meticulously scanned for every possible clue. But these smart smuggling methods like the wedding cards and clothes spools are drastic steps taken by the racketeers trying to smuggle crores of rupees worth of contraband from Bengaluru. We too have some innovative mechanics to tackle the smuggling and will continue to clamp down the perpetrators,” added a senior Customs officer at KIA.
Smugglers out of Bengaluru have smuggled contraband worth over Rs 18 crore including cocaine, ephedrine and hashish this financial year. The most recent attempt involved a fake wedding for which invitation cards were printed and a bogus designer whose garment spools were being exported — with drugs hidden in ingenious fashion.
The Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) and its cargo section are where most of these drug smuggling activities come to light. The Customs authorities have noticed a significant uptick in attempts to smuggle drugs out of Bengaluru this year. On February 18, sleuths of the Customs Intelligence Unit at the air cargo section of the Bangalore Customs spotted a unique cargo — 45 spools of embroidery lace for garments. “The consignment of the spools as part of shipment of designer clothes was booked to Australia from Madurai by a Chennai-based exporter. We felt that there was something amiss about the shipment and opened out the garment laces to find tiny tubes of plastic with a white powdered rolled inside. Tests later determined it as ephedrine, a banned drug,” said an investigating officer with the Customs at KIA Cargo.
The ephedrine that was discovered weighed a total of 5.11kg - worth a whopping Rs 5 crore in the international market. An investigation into the Chennai-based exporter showed that it was a bogus company. Why the Bengaluru cargo terminal was chosen for the smuggling is being examined.
Fake wedding
Shockingly, before the drug smuggling investigation could make headway, the same KIA cargo unit received another suspicious consignment on February 22. This time, many wedding invitations–along with clothes and other items – was part of a consignment for an Australian destination. “This was within a week of the first case and what we did was immediately check if the wedding mentioned in the cards scheduled to be held on April 30, 2020 in Chennai was true. It turned out to be fake and we opened all the 43 fancy invites and were stunned to find powdered ephedrine smartly hidden. We haven’t found anything like this before,” said another officer who dealt the case.
The ephedrine drugs, this time worth Rs. 5.05 crore, was also sent from Chennai. Customs sleuths believe that both these attempts to smuggle ephedrine were part of a larger operation. A thorough probe is under-way into the source of the drugs but progress has not been speedy.
Salahuddin (name changed), from Kozhikode in Kerala, has links here with gold smuggling rackets operating between the Bengaluru and the Gulf. He claims to have helped recruit mules to smuggle gold into Bengaluru for a fee, apart from free tickets for the journey. “The drug game is big and murky involving big players who are literally invincible and invisible to the lower ranks. These consignments are booked using fake addresses and people moving them often don’t have a clue on who gives them the orders as they are directed through the cellphone. So it becomes difficult for investigators to find the links,” he said.
Inside players hint at extremely innovative methods of drug and gold smuggling to avoid detection from the eyes of Customs authorities at KIA. “Bengaluru is dubbed as an easy spot for smuggling activity as the rackets are well aware that the city airport is huge and enforcement agencies inside are severely short staffed,” revealed Shaji, another Kerala-native who used to be a carrier. He refused to identify himself beyond the name citing pending investigations against him.
Big fishes, drugs in pads
The sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) who are also a key enforcement agency monitoring drug and gold smuggling through Bengaluru airport had nabbed what they called a ‘big fish’ in the recent months. February again witnessed the arrest of notorious Keralabased gold smuggler Shihabudheen Thadathil who runs a big racket smuggling gold between Bengaluru and the Gulf. His carriers use methods like body pouches and gold as paste stuck to the body. “The 46-year-old smuggling kingpin, as per our investigation, had managed to smuggle in 200 kgs of gold between June and October 2018 alone. He has been operating for over a decade and we had a look out circular issued against his passport which ultimately resulted in his arrest at Bengaluru airport on February 7th,” said a senior DRI investigator.
The DRI also busted a gang with their mule who attempted to smuggle out hashish worth over Rs 30 lakh inside cereal boxes meticulously hidden inside his check-in luggage.
However, the most novel method of them all was a drug smuggling attempt inside sanitary napkins and the carrier was a woman to avoid detection by authorities. Last year, the Bengaluru unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), busted the connecting gang operating from Austin Town who used to recruit women to smuggle hard drugs by air into the Gulf and seized 510gm of methamphetamine and 572 Lyrica, a sedative capsule, hidden in sanitary pads.
“The enforcement agencies remain vigilant and items for export and luggage items are meticulously scanned for every possible clue. But these smart smuggling methods like the wedding cards and clothes spools are drastic steps taken by the racketeers trying to smuggle crores of rupees worth of contraband from Bengaluru. We too have some innovative mechanics to tackle the smuggling and will continue to clamp down the perpetrators,” added a senior Customs officer at KIA.
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