Mumbai: The Airport Commissionerate of Mumbai Customs Zone–III foiled a series of significant smuggling attempts during the duty cycle from December 03 to 10, 2025, leading to multiple arrests and major seizures under the NDPS Act and Customs Act.
In an enforcement drive, officers recovered a total of 43.263 kg of suspected Hydroponic Weed, valued at over Rs 43 crore in the illicit market, across ten NDPS cases involving passengers arriving from Bangkok. Of these, 37.261 kg were seized in seven cases based on profiling, while 6.002 kg were intercepted in three cases acting on specific intelligence inputs. All 12 passengers involved were arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
The seizures revealed two distinct smuggling methods ~ concealment of Hydroponic Weed inside trolley bags tagged with baggage stickers of unrelated flights to mislead scanners and avoid detection and packing the contraband inside lumps of tamarind, exploiting its dense form and organic appearance to evade scrutiny.
In addition to NDPS-related interceptions, Mumbai Customs also booked four gold smuggling cases, recovering 1,256 grams of gold valued at Rs 1.51 crore, and one diamond smuggling case, in which diamonds worth Rs 87.75 lakh were seized.
