At Mumbai airport, DRI recovered 4.7 kg of cocaine, worth about Rs 47 crore, from a female passenger coming from Colombo. Five people have been arrested with this consignment of drugs hidden in coffee packets.
Mumbai, Saturday. In one of the country’s biggest drugs crackdown, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized 4.7 kg of cocaine, which is said to be worth around Rs 47 crore in the international market, at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. This cocaine was recovered from a female passenger, who had reached Mumbai from Colombo (Sri Lanka).
Cocaine was hidden in coffee packets
DRI officials stopped the female passenger immediately after arrival and searched her luggage. During investigation, nine sachets of white powder were found inside the coffee packets present in the bag. When tested with NDPS field test kit, the substance was found to be cocaine.
Officials said that this consignment was hidden very carefully so that it could not be caught during scanning. However, due to intelligence input and alertness of DRI, this smuggling attempt was foiled.
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Big blow to international drug network
The statement issued by the Finance Ministry said that this action is a major blow to the international drug trafficking network. Apart from the woman passenger, the DRI has arrested four more people in this case — one of them was a person who had come to receive goods at the airport, while three others were involved in the financial, logistics and distribution network.
All five accused have been arrested under the NDPS Act, 1985. At present, interrogation of them is going on so that the international connection of the network can be accessed.
Drug mafia is using Indian women
Citing cases that have come to light in recent months, the DRI said that international drug syndicates are now increasingly using Indian women as couriers. These gangs often try to bring drug consignments into the country by hiding them in food items and everyday items so as to escape the attention of investigating agencies.
Smuggling again could not escape the vigilance of DRI
In the last few months, DRI has seized drug consignments worth several crores at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Goa airports, most of which were linked to African and South Asian networks. This latest action has once again proved that Indian agencies are keeping a strict vigil on the international drug trade.
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