Alert customs officials at Chennai International airport once again curbed smuggling activities. Based on intelligence, Air Customs Postal Intelligence detained one postal parcel suspected to be narcotics substance, which arrived from Haarlem, Netherlands at Foreign Post Office, Chennai.
On examination, the parcel was found to contain one tin toy box in which two plastic pouches were present. On opening the pouches, green-yellow colour pills and pink colour pills were found ingeniously concealed inside. The pills tested positive for MDMA (3, 4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine), a narcotics substance. Total 400 pills suspected to be MDMA valued at Rs. 12 Lakhs were recovered and seized under the NDPS Act, 1985.
The parcel was consigned to a person based in Bhimavaram, West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh which is situated about 550 kms from Chennai. As a follow up action search was carried out at his residential address by a team of officers from Customs (Preventive) Kakinada (A.P.). The accused was brought to Chennai by a special team of Chennai Air Customs by road. He confessed to his role in the smuggling and was arrested and produced before the judicial magistrate who remanded him to judicial custody.
The accused, 27, is an engineering dropout and he had booked the parcel online through Dark Web and had made the payment in ‘Bitcoin’, a form of Crypto Currency.
It may be noted that MDMA is commonly known as Ecstasy, a party drug that alters mood and perception and is chemically similar to both stimulants and hallucinogens which produce feelings of increased energy and pleasure. The seized pills are extremely potent as they contain a very high dosage of MDMA. Dosage above 120 mg is considered to be high and can be fatal.
It may be noted that time and again Chennai customs are on high alert and have seized numerous smuggling consignments. Earlier, Air Customs made two seizures of MDMA pills during March this year and 1.7 kg of Cannabis from USA was also seized during lockdown in April 2020 at Foreign Post Office. Further investigation is in progress.
Editor in Chief : Mewati SItaram
