Contraband seized from Kolkata-bound cargo plane

AGARTALA: On Wednesday custom officials have seized contraband items and smuggled goods worth Rs 10 crore from a Kolkata-bound cargo plane of Indian Airlines chartered by the postal department here, officials sources said here on Wednesday.

Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of the central customs and state intelligence departments raided the Boeing aeroplane from Imphal on Tuesday and sized 178 cartons of contraband an  smuggled goods.

The seized items include 40 kg of ganja worth Rs one lakh, animal skins, shoes manufactured in Myanmar, DVDs made in China and Japan and foreign cigarettes.

The full addresses of the consignor and the consignee were not written on the cartons, the sources said.

The postal department had launched a special courier service for the northeast from August last year by chartering Boeing planes of the Indian Airlines.