Hydroponic weed, diamonds and gold worth Rs 14 crore seized at Mumbai airport
Mumbai (PTI): Customs officials seized hydroponic weed, diamonds and gold, collectively worth about Rs 14 crore, at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport over two days and arrested an airport staffer and a few others, officials said on Saturday.
The seizures were made between December 30 and December 31 in separate cases, they said.
Officials from the Airport Commissionerate, Mumbai Customs Zone-III, confiscated 8.008 kg of suspected hydroponic weed from a passenger who had arrived from Bangkok, the official said.
The contraband is valued at around Rs 8.008 crore in the illicit market, he said, adding that the passenger was arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
In a separate case, 1.946 kg of suspected hydroponic weed worth about Rs 1.946 crore was recovered from a passenger who also had arrived from Bangkok, the official said.
Hydroponic weed, a potent and expensive form of ganja, is cultivated using water-based, nutrient-rich solutions instead of traditional soil methods.
Officials said a passenger was intercepted and 849.6 carats of diamonds, valued at about Rs 2.52 crore, were recovered from him. The precious stones had been allegedly concealed inside his body cavity, they said.
Customs also seized 1,470 grams of 24-carat gold dust in wax form, valued at around Rs 1.87 crore, from a passenger and a staffer attached to Air India Airport Services Limited (AIASL), an official said.
The gold dust was allegedly passed by one Bangladeshi transit passenger to another, who then handed it over to the AIASL employee inside the airport.
In another case, Customs booked a passenger after recovering 89 grams of 24-carat gold rhodium-plated buttons worth Rs 11.35 lakh, officials said.
Acting on specific information, a Customs team also recovered 160 grams of 24-carat gold worth Rs 20.41 lakh from two passengers, they said.
Efforts are being made to trace the wider networks linked to the seized gold, diamonds and drugs, the officials added.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
