Ahmedabad Customs officials on Sunday arrested a man and a woman from Surat district after seizing 13.012 kg of hydroponic marijuana, estimated to be worth around Rs 13 crore, from their checked-in luggage at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, IANS reported. The two had arrived from Bangkok on Thai Airways flight TG-343.

Source: IANS via Hi India

Officers of the Air Intelligence Unit of Ahmedabad Customs picked out the pair through passenger profiling and put their trolley bags through X-ray screening. A detailed examination recovered 14 vacuum-sealed packets concealed inside the bags, and preliminary field testing of the contents returned positive results for ganja, officials said.

Source: Nation Press

A Customs official told IANS: "The two passengers, one male and one female, are both residents of Surat. The estimated value of the seized contraband is approximately Rs 13 crore." The narcotic was seized under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and both passengers were arrested.

Source: IANS via Hi India

The seizure is the third significant hydroponic marijuana interception at the Ahmedabad airport since early September. On September 22, Customs arrested a Mumbai resident after recovering 8.9 kg of the drug from his checked baggage on a flight from Bangkok, and on September 6 officials seized 5.5 kg concealed inside cookie boxes and a cornflakes packet from a passenger who had arrived from Ho Chi Minh City.

Hydroponic marijuana is a higher-potency variant of cannabis that commands a significant premium over conventional ganja in the illicit market. Customs said further investigation into the case is under way.