Mumbai, July 2: A 25-year old passenger, who was on his way to Doha, was nabbed by officials at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) in Mumbai for smuggling drugs in pumpkins. According to a TOI report, the passenger stashed marijuana (ganja), worth Rs 4 lakh in two pumpkins just before his flight was to take off from Mumbai to Qatar.

The incident came to light after the airport security unit got a tip-off from the state anti-terrorism squad about a flyer from Mumbai to Doha and was to carry some "suspicious item".

The accused has been identified as Mohammed Sarwan who is a resident of Mangaluru. As per reports, Sarwan had sliced open two pumpkins and tucked in 4kg of the narcotic drug in the vegetables. A close look at the picture shows that the drugs were hidden in some greenish brown leafy material and shoved into the pumpkins.

A Customs official was quoted in the TOI report saying that the pumpkins itself raised suspicion and the mysterious leafy stuff inside confirmed the suspicion. Sarwan’s baggage was rummaged and its contents were examined.

Soon after, the presence of drugs was confirmed by the officials and Sarwan was arrested and booked under the Narcotic and Drug Psychotropic Substances Act. The report further informed that the accused has admitted he was carrying the drugs for one Sadik who paid him a cut.

In a similar incident that took place last month, a passenger was nabbed by CISF personnel at Mangaluru international airport for smuggling drugs in pumpkins. The passenger was arrested for carrying 10 kg marijuana concealed in three pumpkins in a bag. Reports inform that the passenger was supposed to fly Air India express flight from Mangaluru to Doha but was stopped from boarding the flight.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 02, 2018 04:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).