Poppy seeds smuggled into India via air passengers, cargo: Customs alert

POPPY seeds sourced from Pakistan and Afghanistan are being smuggled into India from south-east Asian countries through air passengers and cargo, Customs had flagged up in a recent alert to its teams across the country, sources said.

- SIDDHARTH PRABHAKAR @ Chennai

This comes at least four months after the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had alerted its field units about poppy seed smuggling through Indian sea ports, including Chennai and Tuticorin.

In January, a group representing legal exporters of poppy seeds from the European Union had complained to the Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN) about poppy seeds from Afghanistan and Pakistan, intentionally mis-declared as that of Turkish origin, being smuggled into Malaysia and then routed to India.

They had even provided details of the Afghani exporter and corresponding Malaysian importer with some videos of the handling of the consignment in Kuala Lumpur (capital of Malaysia).