Filipino held with heroin worth Rs1 cr

MUMNAI: The customs department on Monday arrested a 27-year-old Philippine national Lanting Rey Panganiban for trying to smuggle 1kg heroin worth Rs1 crore. 

This comes a day after three Filipino women were nabbed at Chennai airport while attempting to smuggle 3kg heroin out of India.

A senior customs official said Panganiban had come to Mumbai from Delhi. From here he was to board a Malaysian Airline flight to Kuala Lumpur-Ho Chi Min city and to Milan.

“Once he reached the security check, the airline staff informed him that his ticket was booked for Tuesday night. As he was making his way out, our sleuths intercepted him and our dog Soni sniffed out the heroin in his bag.”

Customs sleuths suspect Panganiban may be connected to the three Filipinos arrested at Chennai airport and may have decided to take an alternative route to exit the country.

The accused has told the officials that he has been in the country for the last 10 days. He also said that a Nigerian woman in Milan promised to process his papers for a work permit in China if he smuggled the heroin out of India, said the official.

Officials claimed due to the intensive scrutiny of passengers of African origin leaving India, international syndicates were using Filipinos to smuggle drugs from India.