CHENNAI: A Chennai special court on Thursday imprisoned two Maldivian nationals including a woman, who were caught with less than a kilogram of hashish oil at Chennai Airport four years ago, to eight years. The oil was concealed in the shampoo bottles in their checked-in baggage.

The duo- Abdullah Alim and Shamsiyya Mohammed have been in jail since their arrest on July 15, 2019.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had received a tip-off about the man and woman smuggling hashish oil by air after which they were stopped before boarding the Sri Lankan airlines flight.

On perusing their checked in baggage, NCB officials found four shampoo bottles, which were emptied and cut off after which the officials found sachets wrapped inside silver foil.

On unwrapping the packages, NCB officials found 970 grams of Hashish oil after which the man and the woman were arrested. After hearing the submissions from both sides, J Juliet Pushpa, Special Judge, Additional special court for Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic substance (NDPS) Act held that the Maldivian duo are guilty and sentenced them to eight years’ imprisonment.

“Drug abuse is a social malady. While drug addiction eats into the vitals of the society, drug trafficking not only eats into vitals of the economy of a country, but illicit money generated by drug trafficking is often used for illicit activities including encouragement of terrorism,” the court stated

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 3.6 lakh in total, failing which they are to undergo further six months of rigorous imprisonment. The period of detention already undergone by the accused can be set off against the sentence.