Portuguese men arrested with 14 kg heroin at Budapest airport
14 kg of heroin was found hidden in two Portuguese men’s luggage at Budapest Liszt Ferenc International airport, Hvg.hu reports. The men came to Budapest from Kenya through Zurich.
After the arrival of their flight from Zurich, the two Portuguese men came through the green corridor of the A/2 terminal, pretending that they had nothing to declare. However, workers of the National Tax and Customs Administration decided to examine their belongings.
There was no problem with the men’s hand luggage, but 14 kg of heroin was found in their hold luggage.
The men had three suitcases as hold luggage, and suspicious signs were spotted when the bags were going through the x-ray machine. When the suitcases were opened, the traces of glue all over the bags led the workers to discover that the suitcases had double walls.
Inside the hidden section of the suitcases, 14 kg heroin was found which is worth approximately HUF 211,000,000.
The huge amount of narcotics was confiscated, and the two men were charged immediately.
This is not the first time that a large quantity of narcotics was found at Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport.
Borsonline.hu reported that in the summer of 2016, a 36-year-old Brazilian man hid one hundred small bags (approximately one kg) of cocaine in his stomach, worth HUF 20,000,000.
Officials immediately spotted the suspicious man who seemed to be very anxious.
In the same year, almost one tonne of khat (or qat) was confiscated at Budapest airport, reported 24.hu. The narcotics were disguised as tea.
Khat is a flowering plant native to the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and it contains alkaloid cathinone, a stimulant which is said to cause excitement, loss of appetite, and euphoria. WHO classified it in 1980 as a drug of abuse that can produce psychological dependence. It is a controlled substance in many countries, while its production, sale, and consumption are legal in certain nations, including Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen.
Source: www.hvg.hu; www.24.hu; www.borsonline.hu
