A run-of-the-mill tip-off on drugs being smuggled out of the country led to one of the biggest seizure in south India in recent times. Sleuths of the Bengaluru Customs Air Cargo Complex, on Friday, seized 475 kg of ephedrine worth over ₹24 crore in the international market.
Ephedrine is a controlled medication and stimulant used to make amphetamines and methamphetamine. Customs officials received an alert that all was not quite right with a consignment of 81 bags of ammonium chloride lying in the export shed at KIA. The consignment was bound for Malaysia.
On examining the bags, sleuths found that two of them contained ephedrine. The firm that had booked the consignment is based in Chennai. Acting on a hunch, sleuths tracked down the rest of the goods that the company plans to export to a godown in Kothanur. That’s when they found 425 kg of ephedrine stored among bags of ammonium chloride.
When Customs officials were alerted that ephedrine was hidden in bags of ammonium chloride that were to be exported to Malaysia, they reached out to the NCB to test the contents.
“NCB officials found that two bags contained ephedrine weighing approximately 50 kg and valued at ₹2.50 crore in the international market. Both the ammonium chloride and ephedrine were in crystalline form and looked similar, ” said a Customs official.
The firm that had booked the consignment is based in Chennai and had shipped similar consignments in the past. “We questioned the custom house agent who helped book the consignment,” an official said. He revealed the name of the logistics firm that transported the bags from a godown in Kothanur to KIA.
On Friday evening, a Customs team went to the godown and found 300 bags of ammonium chloride. “We again called NCB officials who found ephedrine in 17 bags. The quantity was 425 kg and is valued around ₹21.50 crore in the international market,” added the official.
Sleuths are trying to track down the exporters, who had put the value of the consignment as ₹77,000. “Their mobile phones are switched off,” said a sleuth. Customs officials are trying to get details about the firm in Chennai.
“The money from smuggling drugs could be used to fund terrorism, crime or for investment in real estate,” explained the official.
India a hub for illegal ephedrine?
Sources in Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) told The Hindu that ephedrine is illegally manufactured in India and smuggled abroad. It is in high demand for treatment of insomnia and blood pressure, but can also be converted to illegal drugs like methamphetamine and amphetamine.
“It is most often manufactured in pharmaceutical factories that have spare capacity. They are most often manufactured illegally at night. Such cases have been detected in Ahmedabad in Gujarat and Hyderabad in Telangana, which are hubs for pharmaceutical manufacturing,” said a DRI official.
According to NCB officials, ephedrine is not a banned substance, but its use is governed by the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. “Those who manufacture, store or use it should be registered with the NCB. They should submit a report of every transaction,” said a NCB officer.
Past seizures at KIA
June 2017 | 2 foreigners, both students, arrested for attempting to smuggle pharmaceutical drugs worth over ₹2 crore to Doha, Qatar
March 2017 | A woman from Chennai arrested for smuggling 1,640 grams of amphetamine and hashish worth ₹64 lakh to Colombo, Sri Lanka
December 2016 | Customs officials seized 25 kg of ephedrine worth about ₹1.25 crore
October 2016 | Customs officials seized 30 kg of methaqualone, a narcotic substance, worth about ₹11.95 crore
