Officials of the Customs Intelligence Unit busted an international drug racket and arrested a Chennai-based man. They seized 4.4 kg of ephedrine crystals worth ₹89.9 lakh from him. The crystals were concealed in readymade garments to be dispatched to Australia from the international courier terminal at the cargo unit in Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru on May 20.
The accused, according to the officials, used to book such shipments for export using morphed Aadhaar cards to avoid getting caught.
In the follow-up action, Vijayawada police arrested an individual in Chennai, who had morphed the Aadhaar card of a Guntur-based individual with his own photograph. He had approached a courier agency in Vijayawada to export the above-mentioned shipment. He was remanded in judicial custody for various offences under the Indian Penal Code.
The accused was produced in the NDPS court in Bengaluru, which remanded him in judicial custody.
Customs officials have advised people not to share their ID, as they could be misused and land them in trouble.
“It was observed that certain unscrupulous individuals had morphed the Aadhaar card of unsuspecting individuals, and have used the same to export prohibited, contraband substances. A message has to be therefore suitably disseminated to citizens to ensure due diligence and care to ensure that they do not fall prey to such tactics, and also that they do not share their documents with unscrupulous and unauthorised persons who may misuse them. The couriers and their agencies should ensure stricter checks at all their outlets to detect such misuse,” an official said.
