Two Indian nationals were arrested with 5.4kg of kush, three litres of foreign liquor and 24 Indian sarees at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Monday, the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) said.

The arrestees were identified as Sanawar Ali, 36, and Imtiaz Ahmed, 36, residents of North 24 Parganas in India.

A special team of the DNC’s Dhaka Metro (North) airport office arrested the duo at the Green Channel of the airport’s arrival hall at around 1:00pm.

Acting on intelligence information, the team, led by Assistant Director Dr Md Abu Sayeed Mia, stopped the two passengers after they arrived in Dhaka from Bangkok on a Thai Airways flight (TG321).

In the presence of witnesses and representatives of various agencies working at the airport, DNC officials searched their luggage and recovered 5.4kg of kush, three bottles containing three litres of foreign liquor and 24 Indian sarees.

The items were allegedly concealed beneath clothes inside the passengers’ trolley bags.

Officials also recovered two Indian passports, two boarding cards and four smartphones from their possession.

The seized items included $400, 1,170 Thai baht and 1,170 Indian rupees.

A case has been filed against the two under relevant sections of the Narcotics Control Act, 2018, with Airport Police Station. Inspector Shahriya Sharmin of the DNC’s Dhaka Metro (North), Airport Circle, filed the case.

The DNC said several Bangladeshi nationals allegedly involved in the smuggling operation had already been identified and efforts were underway to bring them to justice.

The department said its anti-drug operations would continue under its zero-tolerance policy against narcotics.