BENGALURU: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Bengaluru, has unearthed a Delhi-based African syndicate that hires vulnerable people, especially from the North East (NE), to smuggle contraband narcotic and psychotropic substances into India, in return for petty pecuniary gains.
On credible inputs, on February 20, the DRI, Bengaluru, intercepted a woman from the NE at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), and seized from her 2.5kg of cocaine worth Rs 30 crore in the international grey market. According to informed sources, on further investigation, the DRI, Bengaluru, shared inputs with their counterparts in Chennai and Mumbai.
“Based on the inputs received, on February 26, DRI, Chennai, intercepted a man from NE at the international airport and seized 2.5kg of cocaine from his checked-in baggage. On February 27, DRI, Mumbai intercepted a Delhi-based carrier at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and seized 2.5kg of cocaine,” said sources.
Explaining the modus operandi in the three cases, sources said they were allegedly hired by a Delhi-based African syndicate, which lures gullible people, especially from the NE, to act as carriers of contraband drugs. “This is the first instance where DRI, Bengaluru, has busted Indian carriers hired by Africans to smuggle in cocaine. Till recently, it was Africans who were caught carrying the contraband drug to India. This is the first time we have caught Indians going to Africa to smuggle in the drug,” said sources.
The three mules, who were arrested from Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, had arrived from Addis Ababa by Ethiopian Airlines. “The woman arrested in Bengaluru was told that after she cleared Customs, she would be identified by someone carrying her photograph outside the terminal. She was offered return tickets and Rs 1 lakh in USD for the ‘job’, and paid a token advance of Rs 20,000. The balance would have been paid on delivery of the consignment. All three carriers were tasked to carry cocaine to Delhi and hand it to their handlers there,” said sources.
“Three different people from India were hired by the same syndicate through ‘job offers’, to bring in the contraband drug from Africa via different airports in India, to hoodwink law enforcers,” they added.
What is of interest is the shift in the modus operandi of drug cartels to smuggle contraband drugs into India. From huge containerised consignments of heroin from Afghanistan, to courier shipments and individual local carriers, the syndicates are trying every method to transport the banned narcotic and psychotropic substances.
Cocaine is a powerfully addictive stimulant drug made from the leaves of the coca plant native to South America, which remains its largest producer. Cocaine increases levels of the natural chemical messenger dopamine in brain circuits related to the control of movement and reward. Banned under the NDPS Act, it is priced between Rs 11 crore and Rs 12 crore in the undercover market.
In 2022, the annual United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC) report had stated that potential production of cocaine in Colombia and the area sown with coca, the drug’s base ingredient, had risen the previous year to their highest levels in two decades of monitoring. “The cocaine cartels are trying new routes to push the drug to Addis Ababa, which is well linked to India by Ethiopian Airlines,” added sources.