In a major drug bust at Ahmedabad airport, seven individuals, including a woman, were arrested for attempting to smuggle 1.75 kg of hybrid marijuana worth Rs 2.11 crore into India. The suspects were caught after police received a tip-off and conducted a successful operation in collaboration with the CISF team.
According to DCP Zone 4, Dr. Kanan Desai, the operation targeted a group of four individuals who had just arrived on a flight from Thailand, with three others stationed at the airport to collect the marijuana consignment. The authorities intercepted the smugglers upon arrival, leading to their immediate arrest.
The investigation revealed that Manisha Kharari, a resident of Pethapur, Gandhinagar, was tasked with receiving the marijuana consignment from the returning smugglers. Kharari, acting on the instructions of her boyfriend, Ashraf Khan alias Sameer Pathan, was supposed to hand over the drugs to the main accused, who is still at large. Khan, a key figure in the trafficking ring, is believed to be the drug kingpin behind this operation.
While seven arrests have been made, authorities are still hunting for Ashraf Khan, the alleged mastermind of the operation. The police are also investigating how the drugs were able to bypass security checks in Thailand, raising concerns about international drug trafficking.
According to the accused, a man named Mohammed Kasam organized the smuggling operation. Kasam would send four people on short trips to Thailand, where they would hide marijuana inside cushions in their luggage. The smugglers were paid for their stay and travel expenses, with a promise of Rs 10,000 once they successfully transported the drugs back into India.
Upon their return, Manisha Kharari would receive the marijuana from the smugglers at the airport and transport it by rickshaw, arranged by one of the accused, Sayaz Miana. Miana, who was a rickshaw driver, was also involved in recruiting and scouting individuals who could carry out the smuggling operations.
The CISF team at Ahmedabad airport and the crime branch team acted swiftly to stop the smuggling operation before the drugs could make it to the street market. With the continued hunt for Ashraf Khan and further investigation into how the drugs passed through security checks in Thailand, authorities are working to dismantle the larger international drug trafficking network behind this operation.
This arrest highlights the ongoing challenges in controlling drug trafficking across borders and the growing sophistication of smuggling methods used by criminal gangs.