HYDERABAD: Sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 8 Kgs of Cocaine valued at Rs 80 Crore in the illicit market, from two persons including a woman, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad on Sunday. Each passenger carried 4 kg of Cocaine in packet form by concealing them in the false bottom of their trolley bags.
The woman from Angola had travelled to Hyderabad from Angola via Mozambique, Lusaka and Dubai on a Tourist Visa. Another passenger, a male Tanzanian national, travelled from Cape Town to Hyderabad via Dubai on a Business Visa. Both of them were apprehended and further investigation is underway, said officials of DRI, Hyderabad unit.
According to DRI, smuggling drugs by Air increased with easing restrictions on air travel and increased passenger traffic. Ingenious ways of transporting the contraband have been noticed by way of laminating drugs finely into their baggage which are almost invisible to the naked eye or by concealment in shampoos and food items or at times the passenger becomes body carrier by ingesting drugs in laminated capsules.
Multiple cases involving seizure of Cocaine concealed in the form of pills ingested by air passengers have been booked by the DRI in the last four months. In two such cases booked in Mumbai during March and April 2022, a total of 2.42 kg of Cocaine was found concealed in pills ingested by two passengers.
In April 2022, 1.15 kg of Cocaine concealed in pills ingested by a passenger was seized in Hyderabad, and in another case, one kg of Cocaine was seized in Bengaluru in August 2021. Apart from Mumbai and Hyderabad, seizures of Cocaine have also been affected at other airports also.
More than 350 kg of Cocaine, estimated to be worth Rs. 3,500 crore in illicit markets, was seized across the country after January 2021. This includes a big haul of about 303 kg of Cocaine, seized from a containerised cargo at Tuticorin Port.