KOCHI: The Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) on Tuesday seized 2 kg cocaine worth more than Rs 10 crore from an El Salvador citizen at the Cochin International Airport Ltd here, making it the fourth such incident involving a foreign national at the airport in six months.
The 35-year-old identified as Johny Alexander Duran Sola was arrested when he arrived on a flight from Dubai, NCB officers said.
According to NCB officials, Johny started his journey from Rio de Janeiro and reached Dubai to land in Kochi by an Emirates flight EK 532 at 2.50 am. The drug was concealed in two plastic packets. "We are interrogating the accused and he has been shifted to our office. The seized contraband is a pure form of cocaine that is mostly produced in the South American country. He is the carrier acting from the South American drug cartel that sent drugs to India," the NCB officer said.
It is the fourth incident involving foreign national who arrived with cocaine at Nedumbassery airport since November. In January 4.5 kg of cocaine was seized from a Philippine woman who also arrived from Brazil. Similarly, a Paraguayan national was arrested with 3.6 kg cocaine and another Venezuelan national with around 1 kg of cocaine -- both last November.
The accused has been booked under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985.