Flyers from Singapore, Bangkok held with gold, ganja at Chennai Airport; arrested

CHENNAI: Customs officers at the Chennai airport seized gold and hydroponic ganja from passengers in two separate incidents on Friday. One of the passengers came from Singapore, while the other came from Bangkok, Thailand.

When they were checking the passengers who arrived from Singapore, the officers grew suspicious about a male passenger from Chennai, who had visited Singapore on a tourist visa, and intercepted him. During questioning, the officers found that the passenger was evasive in his replies, which prompted them to conduct a thorough search. During the personal search, they discovered gold hidden inside his clothes. The officers recovered and seized 700 grams of gold worth Rs 65 lakh, and the passenger was arrested for further inquiry.

In the next incident, the officers who were checking passengers who had arrived from Bangkok noticed a Chennai-based man walking suspiciously and stopped him for questioning. As the passenger appeared nervous, his baggage was taken for a detailed check. Their hunch was proven correct as the bag had 400 grams of hydroponic ganja, the high-quality cannabis that is worth Rs 40 lakh on the streets. The Customs seized the ganja and arrested the passenger for further investigation.

Officials said the estimated value of the gold and ganja seized from the two passengers was Rs 1.05 crore, and added that both of them were arrested. Further investigations are ongoing.