Canines catch the hash in football dog squad was undergoing training when it sniffed out the narcotics

Canines catch the hash in football

dog squad was undergoing training when it sniffed out the narcotics

The Mumbai Customs’ dog squad was in the foreign post office at Colaba to undergo training to sniff out narcotics. Imagine the surprise of the officers when the dogs actually pulled out a hashish consignment concealed in a football which was supposed to be sent abroad. The Customs officers are investigating how the consignment got clearance in Delhi before coming to Mumbai. A team of Drug Enforcement Administration from the US was training the Customs’ dog squad when the narcotics consignment was discovered. “During the training, the dogs suddenly found a consignment of hashish in a football which was to go abroad,” said Ahibaran, additional commissioner of customs (preventive, R&I). The hashish was going to an eastern country. The consignment’s total value is worth over Rs1 lakh. A circular was immediately issued to Customs officers, alerting them about the smuggling through sports material. “Generally, sports consignments are not treated as suspicious. Sportsmen and their sport-related material are not under the radar of Customs but now we have started checking all sport items thoroughly,” said a senior customs officer, requesting anonymity. The Customs initiated a probe but no arrest has been made. The sender’s address on the football consignment was wrong and so the accused are not traceable. “We have come across a new modus operandi where sports items are being used for narcotics smuggling,” said Ahibaran. The consignment of footballs had come from Delhi and was supposed to be sent abroad from Mumbai. “After the incident, we alerted all our officers to properly check such consignments. Recently, we had a special training for our officers. It is not easy for every officer to identify things like hashish during screening but the training will help us,” said PM Salim, commissioner, customs, airport. Earlier, Customs officers used to check only the cargo coming from sensitive areas but now it is a compulsory to scrutinise all cargos.