<p class="title">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. </p>.<p class="bodytext">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. </p>.<p class="bodytext">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. </p>.<p class="bodytext">A detailed examination revealed a large cache of drugs hidden between 43 wedding invitation cards in the package that also contained a few clothes. </p>.<p class="bodytext">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. </p>.<p class="bodytext">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. </p>
<p class="title">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. </p>.<p class="bodytext">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. </p>.<p class="bodytext">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. </p>.<p class="bodytext">A detailed examination revealed a large cache of drugs hidden between 43 wedding invitation cards in the package that also contained a few clothes. </p>.<p class="bodytext">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. </p>.<p class="bodytext">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. </p>