Mumbai: The Mumbai Airport Customs in five separate cases have arrested seven persons, including a couple for allegedly smuggling hydroponic weed worth Rs 28.21 crore sourced from Bangkok.
According to the Customs sources, in the first case, the Customs officers intercepted a Ghatkopar-based couple Javed and Farah Shaikh for allegedly smuggling hydroponic weed worth Rs 11.78 crore sourced from Bangkok.
During their questioning, the Customs officers also nabbed one Munawwar Ansari who had come to the airport to receive the said consignment. The couple was promised Rs 25,000 by Ansari to smuggle the said consignment.
In the second case, they intercepted one Taranjeet Manoor, a resident of Ludhiana from Punjab for allegedly smuggling hydroponic weed worth Rs 2.42 crore after he arrived from Bangkok on Wednesday. He admitted that he had agreed to commit smuggling for a monetary consideration of Rs 10,000. The accused was arrested on Thursday.
The Customs officers in the third case, on Thursday intercepted Dhule resident Ataur Rasool, after he arrived from Bangkok for allegedly smuggling hydroponic weed worth Rs 5.95 crore.
Ataur is a cook and claimed that he had gone to Bangkok on the instructions of his friend from whom he had taken a loan of Rs 20,000. Ataur told the officials that his friend had promised him Rs 12,000 per trip.
In the fourth case, the Customs officers intercepted one Yuvraj Singh, a resident of Ludhiana, Punjab for allegedly smuggling hydroponic weed worth Rs 2.48 crore sourced from Bangkok. Singh stays with his parents and has studied up to graduation. He is unmarried and handles the work at his father's factory of welding auto parts.
Singh told the officials that his tickets were booked by a travel agent Honey who offered him a free trip to Bangkok for carrying drugs to Mumbai. Honey also promised to pay him Rs 10,000.
"As per Singh, on 07.07.2025 he was approached by a Thai person in Bangkok, who was a senior citizen and knew Hindi very well and gave them the bags to carry the same to India. The old Thai person gave him 4000 Thai Baht for the expenses of hotel, food and other expenses at Bangkok," said a Customs official.
The Customs officers in the fifth case intercepted one Aqsa Ansari, also a Dhule resident, for allegedly smuggling hydroponic weed worth Rs 5.58 crore from Bangkok. Ansari told Customs officials that he was promised Rs 12,000 by one Irfan for smuggling the contraband.
