A Man Stuffed Rs 7 Lakh Worth of Hash Into His Slippers and Tried Smuggling it Into Doha

I once met a self-proclaimed ‘sadhu’ (holy man) from Lebanon, who told me a tale of how he was jailed for smoking hash in India, but managed to take back ten tolas (100 grams) of hash when he was deported to his hometown, by wearing two pairs of underwear, and stuffing his stash in between. This dude might’ve been lucky enough to get away with it, but another man who tried to do something similar last weekend saw all his high hopes come crashing down when he got caught.

Ajas Valiyaballath was held by the Central Industry Security Forces (CISF) on July 14 at the Kannur International Airport in Kerala for carrying hash worth Rs 7 lakh (approx $10,000) on him. Hailing from the small town of Thayetheru in Kerala, he thought he could slip through the system by putting about 210 grams of hash in his underwear. Except, when he was frisked by the security, his plan hit a downer and he quickly got caught. After the security forces screened him more intensively, it was revealed that he was also carrying about 690 grams of hash neatly concealed in the sole of his shoes. He has now been handed over to the Narcotics Control Bureau, who will take further action against him.

But apart from multiple marijuana busts taking place in the recently emerged transit hub of Qatar, people in India are also being busted before leaving the country on this route. Just last month, a woman was caught in Bengaluru trying to smuggle drugs into Doha through her sanitary pads, while customs officers in the Middle Eastern country have even caught someone who stuffed it into a pastry. But since the punishments in Doha are way more serious than in India—with even the death penalty meted out to those caught trafficking drugs—perhaps it’s for the best that this guy got caught before he could take off.

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