5 kg of ephedrine worth Rs 5 crore seized at KIA

Customs officials at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) here confiscated 5.049 kilograms of ephedrine worth Rs 5 crore on Friday, the second seizure of the banned substance in five days.

Officials at the courier terminal of the Air Cargo Complex found the drug packed in polythene pouches and hidden between layers of cardboard wedding invitation cards. A Madurai-based exporter had booked the consignment to Australia.

A press release from M J Chethan, Joint Commissioner, Customs, said that officials of the Central Intelligence Unit, Air Cargo Complex, scanned the package while verifying export consignments and found the concealment of some powder.

A detailed examination revealed a large cache of drugs hidden between 43 wedding invitation cards in the package that also contained a few clothes.

On suspicion that the powder was concealed between the two-sided and foldable cards, officials cut the cards open and found white, crystalline powder in 86 polythene pouches.

A test of the substance revealed that it was ephedrine, a controlled substance under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

On February 18, officials seized five kilograms of ephedrine worth Rs 5 crore in the international market. The drug was concealed in plastic bobbins. Officials are probing the exporters, the recipients and for how long they have been trading the drugs.