Contraband found in courier consignment

The Narcotics Control Bureau has seized more than a kg of hashish concealed in a consignment meant to be shipped to a European country.

A consignment from Belgaum sent to Bangalore for onward shipping to Finland aroused the suspicion of the courier firm on Friday. When the courier firm personnel opened the consignment, they found four photo frames. On probing further, they found hashish packed in pouches and neatly tucked inside the frames.

Immediately, the courier firm alerted the Narcotics Control Bureau, South Zone, headquartered in Chennai. A team of personnel from the Bureau arrived in Bangalore and confirmed that the material found in the consignment was hashish.

According to Director of Narcotics Control Bureau, South Zone, Davidson Devashirvadam, the material seized by their personnel in Bangalore was hashish. Each of the four photo frames in the consignment contained around 350 gms of hashish. The total quantity of seized contraband was one kg and 180 grams.

“The contraband is worth around Rs 65,000 in the grey market in India. But, its value increases when it goes overseas”, Davidson said.

Meanwhile, the Narcotics Control Bureau has begun verifying the names of the sender and the addressee. “Generally, the names given in such incidents are not genuine. They give fake names and it takes time to verify them”, he said.

The Bureau has also expressed concern over the increasing incidence of trafficking of narcotics globally through courier agencies. “There have been similar seizures in other parts of the country also”, he said.

Davidson recalled an instance in which the narcotic had already left the country by a courier from Chennai by the time the Bureau got the wind of it. “We alerted the recipient country and they seized the contraband at their end”, he said.

The Narcotics Control Bureau also seized more than 10 kgs of heroin from two persons in Bommanahalli in Bangalore. “The contraband was meant to be sent to Sri Lanka”, said Davidson. The two persons from whose possession the heroin was recovered told the authorities that they received the contraband from Bhopal.

A kg of heroin is worth almost half a million in India. “The price shoots up dramatically to Rs 3.5 million in Sri Lanka. There is a huge demand for Indian heroin in Colombo”, Davidson added.