India: Drugs worth more than $119,849 found hidden in children’s toys, candies

Officials in the Indian city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat found drugs worth more than Rs 1.15 crore ($137,827) found in children’s lunch boxes and candies, on Saturday (Jun 1), said the police.

What was found?

The illicit substance was found after a joint operation by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch along with the customs and excise departments. The seized marijuana was said to have originated from Canada, the United States, and Thailand.

The city’s crime branch has also reportedly detained one person and launched a probe. Out of the several parcels of drugs seized, 11 from the US, two were from Canada, and one of them was from Thailand, according to local media reports.

The parcels were recovered from a Foreign Post office located in the city’s Shahibaug area which has seen similar packages in the past.

The officials also said that they are looking into the data they have received so far to understand the modus operandi of the people involved in the smuggling and to whom they were supposed to reach.

Hybrid cannabis in Ahmedabad

This is not the first time that hybrid cannabis has been seized in the city. In October, the Ahmedabad district Special Operations Group (SOG) arrested three people for allegedly getting hybrid cannabis into India and peddling it.

At the time, the police said that they had seized 383 grams of hybrid cannabis and 27.45 of hashish.

India’s biggest drug bust

In what was said to be India’s biggest drug bust, officials seized around 3,300 kgs of narcotics from an Iranian boat off the Gujarat coast following a joint operation by the Navy, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), back in February.

The illicit drugs worth around $267 million included 3,089 kg of hashish, 158 kg of methamphetamine and 25 kg of morphine, according to India’s Ministry of Defence.

(With inputs from agencies)