Sniffing out drugs at BIA

Bangalore: Contraband goods are in the news again at Bengaluru International Airport. After a futile effort by three foreign nationals to smuggle hashish worth Rs 47 crore through the airport, the police have decided to use sniffer dogs.
Police commissioner Shankar Bidari said he will meet customs officials to discuss the move for detecting narcotics in the luggage-scanning section. This was decided last Sunday when three foreigners -- from Poland, Austria and Switzerland -- were arrested by immigration sleuths. Their luggage had been scanned and loaded onto the aircraft. However, it was later recalled and the hashish surfaced after a manual check.
This is not the first time drugs have escaped scanners at the BIA. In 2009, seven huge consignments of narcotics were seized. In all the cases, the luggage had passed the scanners and was loaded. It was only following intelligence tip-offs that the drugs were seized.
In the latest instance, the IB had tipped off immigration sleuths to keep tabs on three foreigners who may be flying out of India with narcotics.
In all the cases, the carriers came to Bangalore from cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai that have international airports and direct flights out of the country. This implies BIA is emerging as the chosen airport for smugglers to catch a flight out of India.
08/11/09 Vinay Madhav/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Nov 2009