After the buttons of women’s party gowns, drug couriers seem to have found a novel hiding place for narcotics: the framed photos of gods and goddesses. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) recently seized heroin worth Rs80 lakh in the international market, which was being couriered out of the country in such photo frames.
A few days ago, a courier firm in South Mumbai got an order to send a parcel to The Netherlands. The executive taking the order found it odd that the parcel containing eight framed photos of Indian gods and goddesses was booked by an African national and was being sent to a Dutch national.
“An executive from the courier company figured something was amiss,” an officer with the NCB said. “Why would an African national want to send framed photos of Indian gods to a Dutch national?”
The African national who booked the parcel could not give satisfactory answers to questions about the addressee. He gave his name, address, telephone number, and paid the charges and left, the officer said. “He told the firm that the parcel had framed photos of Ganesh, Shankar, Saraswati, and Krishna. And he was sending it to The Netherlands.”
The courier company immediately alerted the NCB and officers arrived at the office to inspect the parcel. “Initially we did not find anything,” the officer said. “But a closer inspection of one of the frames revealed a cavity behind the photo. When we tore open the back cover, we found a packet of heroin.” The NCB officers seized eight packets of heroin, each weighing 100gm. The heroin was of top quality. “It is in great demand in European countries,” he said.
The NCB could not trace the African national because he had given a fake address to the courier company. “Courier companies have been extremely helpful. They alert us whenever they find anything suspicious. But it becomes difficult to arrest the sender because addresses are never genuine. And receivers too cannot be traced because they are in foreign countries.” Yashodhan Wanage, the NCB’s zonal director, praised the courier company for informing the NCB.
