Man arrested from airport with marijuana

Police arrested a person with marijuana worth Rs 2.5 lakh from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport on Saturday. Shambhu Das, the accused, was produced before Barasat Court on Sunday.

After initiating the investigation, police learnt that Das was connected with some other miscreants in Kolkata and that he collected marijuana packets from a person residing in Maniktala.

"Das was going to Andaman and Nicobar Islands when he was captured by officers of Narcotics Control Bureau at the airport. Later, he was handed over to NSCBIA police station," said an source at the airport.

Police said that around 10 kg of marijuana was found from the trolley which the accused was carrying. He initially denied that it was his property, but later confessed that somebody had told him to deliver the marijuana to a person in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. "This person is only a low-ranking member of a racket. The key members of this racket are operating from Kolkata," said the source.

The investigators, however, are looking for the person from Maniktala who gave Das the packet of marijuana with instructions to hand it over to another person in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In January this year, a person was arrested by the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) with marijuana worth Rs 37 lakh at Kolkata airport.