Team Mangalorean - Kasaragod
from Fayaz Bovikan

Kasaragod: Three residents from here have been arrested by the air customs authorities in Calicut (Kozhikode) airport while in their attempt to smuggle in a large consignment of foreign cigarettes without paying duty.

About 428 cartons of cigarettes worth Rs 2.82 lakh had been brought by them on board an Air Arabia flight and an Air India flight from the Gulf countries in the early hours of Tuesday, June 19. Two passengers from Kasaragod carried 119 and 180 cartons and the third from Sharjah had 129 cartons.

Since it is suspected that they could belong to a larger network in smuggling cigarettes, electronics and gold, their names have not been disclosed. When our correspondent tried to gather inputs, the police here declined to divulge any information in the matter.