Mumbai, Dec 10: The Mumbai Airport Customs in 15 cases over the past eight days have seized smuggled drugs worth ₹43 crore, gold worth ₹1.51 crore and diamonds valued at ₹87 lakh.

According to the Customs, during December 03 till December 10 they detected ten cases of smuggling of hydroponic weed.

“Based on spot profiling, a total of 37.26 kg of suspected hydroponic weed valued at approximately ₹37.26 crore in the illicit market were recovered under seven cases from nine passengers who had arrived from Bangkok via various flights and were arrested under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act,” said a Customs officer.

“The modus operandi used by the accused in these cases were that the passengers attempted to smuggle hydroponic weed by concealing the contraband inside the trolley bags and using the baggage tags of another flight to avoid detection by Customs Officers. In some cases, the passengers attempted to smuggle hydroponic weed by concealing the contraband inside the lumps of tamarind to avoid detection,” the officer said.

In three other cases, based on specific intelligence, a total of 6 kg of suspected hydroponic weed, valued at approximately ₹6 crore in the illicit market were recovered from three passengers who had arrived from Bangkok via various flights and were arrested under the provisions of the NDPS Act.

“Other than the NDPS cases, four gold smuggling cases were booked in which a total of 1,256 grams of gold valued at ₹1.51 crore were recovered and seized from four passengers. In one case, diamonds valued at ₹87.75 lakh were recovered and seized from one passenger,” the officer said.

Nagpur: In yet another success to the Maharashtra government’s campaign to end left-wing extremism, 11 CPI (Maoist) commanders and cadres carrying a cumulative bounty of ₹82 lakh surrendered before the Gadchiroli police on Wednesday morning in the presence of Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla.

The surrendered group includes several high-ranking leaders — Divisional Committee Members, Platoon Committee Members and Area Committee Members — marking one of the most significant mass surrenders in recent years. Security was tightened at the venue as four of the Maoists arrived armed and in full uniform.

Among those who surrendered were Ramesh alias Baju Lekami and Bhima alias Kiran Hidma Kowasi, both Divisional Committee Members of the banned outfit. Senior Platoon Committee members Poriya alias Lucky Adama Gota, Ratan alias Sanna Masu Oyam, and Kamala alias Rago Iriya Veladi also laid down arms. Others include Poriya alias Kumari Bhima Veladi, Ramji alias Mura Lachhu Pungati, Sonu Podiyam alias Ajay, Prakash alias Pandu Pungati, Sita alias Jaini Tonde Pallo, and Sainath Shankar Made.

Local officials believe the surrender has delivered a major blow to Maoist operations across the Dandakaranya region, spanning Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Telangana. The event was attended by Additional Director General (Special Actions) Dr Tshering Dorje, DIG Ankit Goyal, DIG (CRPF) Ajay Kumar Sharma and Superintendent of Police Neelotpal.

Wednesday’s surrender is being hailed as one of the biggest successes for Gadchiroli police since Bhupathi alias Mallojula Venugopal Rao, a Politburo member of the CPI (Maoist), surrendered before Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on October 15 along with 60 others.

“This is the beginning of the end of Naxalism in Gadchiroli. We are committed to the Union government’s deadline of March 31, 2026, to eliminate leftwing extremism from India,” DGP Rashmi Shukla said, adding that over 100 Maoists have surrendered in Gadchiroli district this year.

New Delhi, Dec 10: The Bombay Stock Exchange’s (BSE) subsidiary BSE Index Service on Wednesday announced the launch of four new factor Indices from the universe of BSE large-cap total market capitalisation (TMC) index with 5 per cent stock level capping.

The newly introduced indices are BSE large-cap 100 momentum 30, BSE large-cap 100 low volatility 30, BSE large-cap 100 enhanced value 30, and BSE large-cap 100 quality 30.

“BSE Index Services Pvt. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of BSE, today announced the launch of 4 new BSE factor indices from the BSE 100 large cap TMC index as the universe with 5 per cent stock level capping,” the exchange said in a press release.

These Indices are Reconstituted Quarterly, have a base value of 1000, and the first value date is June 20, 2005, along with the additional screening for the liquidity profile, the release added.

BSE large-cap 100 Momentum 30 will track the performance of the 30 companies in the BSE 100 large-cap TMC that exhibit the most persistence in their relative performance, based on their momentum scores. Constituents are weighted based on their momentum score.

BSE large-cap 100 Low Volatility 30 will measure the performance of the 30 least volatile companies in the BSE 100 large-cap TMC. Constituents are weighted by their inverse volatility.

BSE large-cap 100 Enhanced Value 30 measures the performance of the 30 companies in the BSE 100 large-cap TMC with the most attractive valuations, based on their value scores. Constituents are weighted based on their value score.

BSE large-cap 100 Quality 30 measures the performance of the 30 companies in the BSE 100 large-cap TMC that exhibit the most persistence in their relative performance, based on their momentum scores. Constituents are weighted based on their momentum score.

“Building on the success of factor launches on the BSE 500 universe earlier in the year, we are pleased to expand our factor family with the launch of four new factor indices, this time on the large-cap universe,” BSE Index Services Pvt. Ltd MD & CEO Ashutosh Singh said.

“These indices, in the same vein as our BSE 500 universe factor family, will be reset on a quarterly basis with the introduction of an innovative score-based only weighting method,” he added.

The index said that these new indices can be used for running passive strategies such as ETFs and Index Funds.

It can also be used for benchmarking of PMS strategies, MF schemes and fund portfolios. Additionally, investors can now access a broader spectrum of market opportunities, further enriching their investment strategies with this latest addition to BSE’s suite of indices.