DRI seizes cocaine worth ₹19.79 Cr from flier arrived from Kenya

DRI seizes 19.79 kg of cocaine worth ₹19.79 crore from a female foreign national at Mumbai airport, suspected of international narcotics trafficking.

MUMBAI: The Mumbai zonal unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized 19.79 kg of cocaine, worth around ₹19.79 crore in illicit markets, from the possession of a female foreign national, suspected of being the carrier of an international narcotics trafficking syndicate.

The cocaine seized at the Queenston Bridge port of entry (Photo: CBSA)

The passenger, a national of Sierra Leone, arrived from Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday on a flight and was under the DRI’s surveillance based on specific intelligence about her. On arrival at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), a detailed examination of her luggage was carried out by a DRI investigator who found out that she had ingeniously concealed the contraband material, in the form of a white powdery substance in her luggage articles like shoes, a moisturiser bottle, a shampoo bottle, and anti-perspirants that she was carrying, said an agency source.

The accused passenger was then placed under arrest at CSMIA itself, produced before a metropolitan magistrate court in the city, and remanded to judicial custody.

“The examination of her luggage revealed that the items she was carrying, for instance, shoes, the moisturiser bottle, a shampoo bottle, and anti-perspirants were unusually heavy and rigid. That aroused suspicion of the DRI team,” said the agency source.

“The examination of the suspected articles revealed that all of these items had specially made cavities, containing plastic pouches filled with white powdery substance,” the source said. On testing the powdery substance using a field test kit, it tested positive for Cocaine and was seized under relevant provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, the source said.

The agency has recorded the statement of the arrested woman and the search for her accomplices, including the purported receiver of the intercepted Cocaine, is on, the source said. “DRI seized the cocaine, worth ₹19.79 crore in the illicit markets, foiling the bid to smuggle it in India by using a novel modus operandi of concealment of the contraband, reinforcing its commitment towards fighting drug menace,” the source said. Last week, the DRI had also busted an international narcotics-trafficking syndicate, seizing from its two carriers, cocaine worth ₹100 crore in the illicit market and arresting two of its members – both Nigerian nationals - the mastermind and the purported receiver of the contraband material.

The DRI officials nabbed the alleged mastermind and the purported receiver at a location in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. DRI’s probe against the syndicate had begun after its Mumbai Unit seized cocaine of 9.82 kg worth around ₹100 crore in the illicit markets from two alleged carriers, both female air passengers, of Thai and Indonesian nationality. The duo had allegedly arrived in Mumbai from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with an aim to deliver the smuggled contraband for trafficking in India.