A 29-year-old employee of a private bank who won second place in a beauty contest at Mumbai airport was arrested by Customs on Thursday on charges of smuggling 11.8 kg worth of aquatic weed. $11.8 lakh crore to India from Bangkok.
The woman has been identified as Harsha Sunny, who landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in the early hours of Thursday, an official said, news agency PTI reported.
How was Harsha Sunny arrested?
India Today reported that Sunny arrived in Mumbai from Bangkok on the night between June 10 and 11 on board Air India flight TG-351. She was stopped by the Air Force Intelligence Unit (AIU) and the Customs Department after they became suspicious of her behavior during a routine check.
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When officials searched her bag, they allegedly found 12 sealed packages containing a green substance, and an on-the-spot chemical test conducted with the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) kit confirmed the substance to be high-grade hydroponics marijuana.
Sunny reportedly works as a relationship manager in a private bank and was a contestant in a beauty pageant held in Kerala last year. Twelve packages of aquatic weed were reportedly found hidden in her camper bag.
What did the police say?
However, Sunny claimed her innocence and said that someone had befriended her during her foreign trip and asked her to carry the bag to India, according to the official.
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She was arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and produced before a court which sent her to judicial custody, according to officials.
The police said that an investigation is underway to identify other people linked to the drug network.
Sunny was later produced before a Mumbai court and remanded in judicial custody. While the investigation is underway, investigators are trying to determine if this case is linked to a larger smuggling network.
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In a similar case on Wednesday, a man was arrested near the Indo-Nepal border in Maharajganj district with more than 2.30 kg of high-quality aquatic weed valued at around 2.30 kg. $Rs 1 crore in the international black market, PTI reported.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel arrested Mohammed Idresh (34), a resident of Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu, from the Sunauli border area on Tuesday evening and recovered the contraband from his possession, SSB Assistant Commander Priya Yadav said.
He was crossing the border and had entered India on foot when he was checked and smuggled goods were found in his bag, leading to his arrest, according to the official.
