Mumbai, July 20: Drug peddlers always find innovative ways to hide their illegal consignment from the prying eye of the authorities, even after that the alert customs officials, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and other authorities have managed to flop their plan in the past. In the recent case reported, the DRI has caught three people for smuggling Khat leaves (contraband) as green tea.

The trio, as per their plan, had exported 132 kilograms of Catha Edulis alias Mira Leaves or Kath Leaves worth Rs 3.4 crore.  Besides this, they also planned to send the smaller part of the consignment to Mumbai and the larger part to Kolkata. However, the agency officials were tipped off about the illegal consignments and laid a trap to seized them from both the cities.

Furthermore, during the probe, the officials found out that the trio had declared the leaves as green tea and planned to send the parcels through the EMS, an international speed post in two different consignments.

Those who have been arrested are identified as Ethiopian nationals named Amir Abdul Razzak, 27, a dentist by profession, Abdul Aziz Yusuf Umar, 29, and a Yemeni national Ahmed Mirai, 32 years old. After the arrest, they have been produced before a local court on Thursday and was remanded to DRI custody.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 20, 2018 04:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).