Man held for carrying drugs worth Rs90 lakh to Malaysia

The customs officials at Mumbai airport have held a 54-year-old man from Chennai who was trying to smuggle 6.5kg of ketamine, a banned party drug, worth around Rs90 lakh to Malaysia.

The accused has been identified as Jaffer Ullah Khan, who works as a driver in Chennai.

Khan was caught by a team of customs officials lead by assistant commissioner of customs (air intelligence unit), Sameer Wankhede. Khan was on his way to Kuala Lumpur in a Malaysian Airways flight at around 11pm on Tuesday when he was stopped for the checking of his baggage by the officers near the immigration counter.  

The accused had hidden the drugs in photo frames, managing to conceal packets of 700gms of ketamine each inside every photo frame. The frames had been sealed back neatly, so as to avoid suspicion.

On being questioned, Khan said he was getting paid 1,700 ringgit (Malaysian currency) and being provided with free air tickets and stay in Kuala Lumpur for four days.

An customs officer from the airport said that Khan has been abroad 23 other times, and it looks like he is a regular carrier. He has been arrested and booked under stringent sections of the NDPS Act.

Khan had come to Mumbai from Chennai by train and then collected the drug consignment from an unknown person at the Western Express Highway. “These days, drug lords are using people from Chennai or other places as carriers, as a person from Mumbai would be easily identified by the customs officers,” said the official.