Two Doha-bound passengers held with hashish worth Rs 20L at Mumbai airport

Two Doha-bound passengers, including a woman, were apprehended on Thursday at Mumbai airport for allegedly carrying nearly two kg of hashish worth approximately Rs 20 lakh concealed inside the false bottom of their bags, CISF officials said.

Mohammad Tarique Irfan Inayatullah Mansoori and Zahira Mohammed Tarique Irfan Mansoori were scheduled to travel to Doha in the morning, they said.

During the pre-embarkation security check at the main security hold area of Terminal-2 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport some suspicious items were noticed in their two handbags by Central Industrial Security Force personnel, the officials said.

On suspicion, all the items of both the bags were removed and the bags were again passed through the X-BIS machine and some suspicious images were noticed again, they said.

The bottom of the bags was torn apart and four packets containing hashish -- two packets in each bag -- wrapped with carbon foil weighing approximately two kg were found, the officials said.

The man told the officials that one of his friends had handed over the bags to them, they said, adding that the recovered hashish has been valued at approximately Rs 20 lakh.

Both the passengers, along with the seized drug, were handed over to Narcotics Control Bureau officials for further legal action.