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Harsha Sunny, a private bank employee and beauty pageant runner-up, was arrested at Mumbai Airport for allegedly smuggling hydroponic weed worth ₹11.8 crore from Bangkok. The case comes amid a rise in airport drug seizures and follows other high-profile smuggling cases
A 29-year-old private bank employee and beauty contest runner-up has been arrested at the Mumbai airport for allegedly smuggling drugs | Representative image(Pixabay)A 29-year-old woman, an employee of a private bank and runner-up in a beauty contest, was arrested at Mumbai Airport for allegedly smuggling drugs into India from Bangkok.
The woman, who has been identified as Harsha Sunny, was reportedly carrying 11.8 kg of hydroponic weed valued at ₹11.8 crore. She landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in the early hours of Thursday, an official said.
The accused works as a relationship manager with a private bank and was a contestant in a beauty pageant held in Kerala in 2025, the official added.
Customs officials allegedly found 12 packets of hydroponic weed concealed in her trolley bag. Sunny stated that a person befriended her during her Bangkok trip and asked her to carry the bag to India.
She was arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and produced before a court, which remanded her to judicial custody, the official said, adding that a probe is currently underway to identify other people linked to the drug network.
Smuggling cases on the rise?
Sunny's arrest is part of a broader trend that has seen Indian airports emerge as key interception points for international drug-trafficking networks.
On Thursday, news agency PTI reported that DRI officials seized five kg of crystal methamphetamine, valued at approximately ₹5 crore in the international market, from a Malaysia-bound passenger at Chennai International Airport. The passenger, identified as Sivayogeswaran Rajkumar, a resident of Batlagundu in Dindigul district, was detained at Terminal 2 of the airport on Wednesday night just before boarding an IndiGo flight (6E 1031) bound for Kuala Lumpur, officials said on Thursday.
Ranya Rao gold smuggling case
In 2025, Kannada actress Ranya Rao was arrested in a gold smuggling case. Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials intercepted Harshavardhini Ranya alias Ranya Rao, the stepdaughter of DGP-rank (suspended) police officer Ramachandra Rao, at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, on March 2, 2025, after she allegedly carried out 27 trips to Dubai since January 2025.
Customs officials seized 14.213 kg of smuggled gold bars directly from her and later found cash and jewellery worth over ₹2 crore at her residence. She was accused of smuggling gold worth ₹102 crore.
Her associate, Tarun Konduru Raju alias Virat Konduru, a 36-year-old US citizen, was arrested six days later for allegedly helping in the smuggling operation. A third accused, Sahil Sakariya Jain (27), a jeweller from Ballari, was arrested on March 26 for allegedly helping dispose of the smuggled gold and facilitating hawala transactions.
According to The Hindu, investigations later indicated that the trio were part of a larger syndicate that smuggled over 100 kg of gold into the country between 2024 and 2025. Officials claimed Konduru facilitated the international movement of gold via Dubai, while Jain handled its disposal within India.
Although she had earlier secured bail from the special court for economic offences, her release was blocked by detention under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA). Citing a DRI source, PTI reported in April that the one-year preventive detention expired on April 22, allowing her to be released.
According to data presented in Parliament, Customs and DRI authorities recorded 549 narcotics seizure cases at airports between April and October 2025 alone, recovering drugs worth more than ₹3,300 crore. Several major busts involving hydroponic cannabis smuggled from destinations such as Bangkok, Singapore, and Malaysia were reported at airports in Mumbai, Chennai, and Amritsar during the year.
(with agency inputs)
About the Author
Swati Gandhi
Swati Gandhi is a digital journalist with over four years of experience, specialising in international and geopolitical issues. Her work focuses on foreign policy, global power shifts, and the political and economic forces shaping international relations, with a particular emphasis on how global developments affect India. She approaches journalism with a strong belief in context-driven reporting, aiming to break down complex global events into clear, accessible narratives for a wide readership.<br><br> Previously, Swati has worked at Business Standard, where she covered a range of beats including national affairs, politics, and business. This diverse newsroom experience helped her build a strong grounding in reporting, while also strengthening her ability to work across both breaking news and in-depth explanatory stories. Covering multiple beats early in her career has helped her be informed about her current work, allowing her to connect domestic developments with wider international trends.<br><br> At Live Mint, she focuses on international and geopolitical issues through a business and economic lens, examining how global political developments, foreign policy decisions, and power shifts impact markets, industries, and India’s strategic and economic interests.<br><br> She holds a Bachelor’s degree in English (Honours) from the University of Delhi and a Master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University. Her academic training has shaped her emphasis on precision, analytical rigour, and clarity in writing. Her interests include global political economy and the intersection of geopolitics with business.<br><br> Outside work, Swati focuses on exploring her passion and love for food. From fancy cafes to street spots, Swati explores food like a true foodie.
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