Tashkent airport customs seize nearly 12 kg of drugs from Thailand flights

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Officers from the Tashkent-Aero specialized customs complex, in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, intercepted two separate attempts to illegally smuggle narcotics through Tashkent International Airport. The total weight of the seized drugs amounted to approximately 12 kilograms.

In the first incident, customs officers at a border customs post detained a 44-year-old passenger who arrived on a flight from Bangkok and attempted to pass through the green channel. During the inspection of his hand luggage and baggage, customs officials discovered more than 4.8 kilograms of marijuana.

Another smuggling attempt was uncovered during the inspection of a 19-year-old citizen of a neighboring state who had arrived on a flight from Phuket.

During the examination of his baggage, customs officers noticed packages labeled as powdered milk.

According to the findings of the Central Customs Laboratory, the contents of the ten packages turned out to be the synthetic narcotic substance mephedrone. The total weight of the seized drug was 7 kilograms and 180 grams.

According to the detainee, he met an unidentified individual through the Telegram messenger app and agreed to deliver the drugs to Tashkent under his instructions for a reward of US$1,000.

According to customs authorities, a total of 403 cases of illicit drug import and trafficking were detected in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies during the first half of the current year. As a result, nearly 1 ton and 760 kilograms of narcotics were seized from illegal circulation.

Criminal cases have been initiated for all detected facts, and investigative actions are underway.