KOCHI: The security personnel at the Kochi airport seized 30 kg of narcotic drugs worth Rs 60 crore in the international market from a passenger on Sunday. A preliminary assessment by the customs narcotics department said it is methaqualone, a sedative-hypnotic drug. The passenger -- Muralidharan Nair, a Palakkad native -- had arrived from Zimbabwe via Doha.
The seized drug has been sent to the government laboratory for further testing, an official said. Muralidharan was caught during the baggage check before boarding an Air Asia flight to Delhi. “The intoxicating substance hidden in the bag was found by the security department of CIAL using the state-of-the-art ‘3D MRI’ scanning machine,” said an airport spokesperson.
The accused has been handed over to the customs narcotics department. Three months ago, a Tanzanian national Mohammed alias Kuyamno, 57 was caught by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence with heroin worth Rs 20 crore from the Kochi airport.
He was nabbed when he reached Kochi on a flight from Cape Town via Dubai. After the incident, the DRI had upped the surveillance at Kochi airport as there has been a rise in the number of drug smugglers arriving from African countries.