In the absence of human drug mules since the stoppage of all international flights from March 22 due to COVID-19, drug smugglers have turned to the postal service.
However, the special alert maintained at the Foreign Postal Office and Courier Terminal at Chennai to check smuggling has put a halt to the plans of drug smugglers, who tried to bring in a consignment of 1.7kgs of cannabis from the United States, hidden inside a pair of sleeping bags.
According to a press release by the Chennai Commissioner of Customs, the Postal Intelligence of Air Customs detained a parcel suspected to contain narcotics substances, which arrived from the USA at the Foreign Post Office. The consignor had declared the parcel to contain “sleeping bags and hand vacuum”.
On examination, the parcel was found to contain two red sleeping bags and one carton of hand vacuum cleaners. On opening the sleeping bags, two plastic bags containing greenish dried flower pods were found concealed in each bag. In the carton too were four plastic bags containing greenish dried flower pods that were found concealed inside. On opening the eight bags, a strong ‘weedy’ smell similar to that of high-quality cannabis of high quality was noticed. A total of 1.7kg of cannabis of foreign origin, valued at Rs. 9 lakh, was recovered and seized under the NDPS Act, 1985.
In view of the suspension of court functioning during the lockdown period and as per the instructions laid down by the City Civil Court, a petition for submission of case property and samples for analytical examination has been sent by email to the designated court.
The parcel was consigned to a person based in Annavaram, East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. As a follow-up action, searches were carried out at the address of the consignee by jurisdictional Customs formation in Andhra Pradesh and further action is being taken to nab the persons involved.
The parcel was consigned from Vancouver city in the US state of Washington. The use of cannabis for recreational purpose is legal in eleven states in the US including Washington.