Chennai cops bust drug-smuggling attempt at airport

CHENNAI - Police in Chennai have busted a drug smuggling attempt after they apprehended an unemployed Indian man trying to smuggle the contraband in an ice-cream vending machine. He was heading to Malaysia.

The alert Chennai police followed a tip-off that led to his apprehension. They got suspicious after they saw the man heaving a bulky package at the Chennai airport.

Authorities stopped the Malaysia bound man on Wednesday night. During interrogation, he confessed he was carrying narcotics.

It emerged that the package was an ice-cream vending machine in which 14.79 kg of ketamine had been hidden.

“The drug was skillfully concealed in a cavity in the ice cream dispenser which he was carrying, purportedly for sale abroad,” The Star quoted R. Periasamy, Commissioner of Customs (Airport and Air Cargo) as saying.ustoms officials estimated that the contraband, commonly known as a “party drug”, could easily fetch about RM1million in international market.

According to the report, ketamine hydrochloric, often used as animal tranquilliser, is easily available in India and widely trafficked to Southeast Asian cities, where there is a growing demand for the drug, and sold at lucrative prices.

Between 2008 and 2009, around 123kg of ketamine were seized at Chennai airport alone.ue to stringent checks in the southern city airport and seaport, smugglers are now plying other Indian airports such as Cochin, Hyderabad and Coimbatore, Periasamy said. (ANI)