Flight service disruption had little effect on drug smuggling, cases, value double in ‘20

The value of the seizures and the number of cases registered doubled in 2020 when compared to the year 2019 – despite only very few flights being operated on special service after regular operation was cancelled.

In 2018, the Customs had seized drugs worth Rs. 3.7 crore in 9 cases, while drugs worth Rs 7.19 crore were seized in 13 cases in 2019. Last year, even though fight services were suspended from March, the smuggling of drugs seems to have continued.

The smugglers were targeting cargo flights to bring drugs into the city. Most of the packages were booked as medical equipment to escape from the Customs check. However, the officials at the airport managed to identify those packages.

Methoquilone, opium, bitopertin, and pseudoephedrine were some of the drugs that were smuggled to the foreign countries from Chennai.

This year, the Customs officials seized LSD stamps smuggled from the Netherlands, which was the biggest case of seizure by the Customs in Chennai till date. Most among the 26 persons who were arrested for smuggling were software engineers, students, etc. Some of them were from Tamil Nadu, whole few others were from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. There was also a Malaysian citizen among the arrested.

The drugs circulating in the city has increased for the last few months, and the easy availability of drugs in some of the other countries enable them to buy them online with ease, officials said.