KOCHI: A drug trafficking racket in the state is using women as carriers to smuggle out contraband via the Kochi airport to Middle Eastern countries, said the police. Though they have been lying low for a while in the wake of increased restrictions on flights owing to the pandemic, the police stumbled upon crucial information regarding the gang’s activities after a 33-year-old woman from Paralam, Thrissur, was nabbed from the airport with drugs in hand.
According to police officials, Ramiya was nabbed while attempting to smuggle out 1,210 gm of hashish via the Kochi airport on March 16, 2021. “The contraband was kept in polythene covers rolled in the shape of cigarettes, and then concealed in her undergarments to avoid detection,” an official said.
It was the CISF personnel who first picked her up from the departure terminal while she was waiting for security clearance to board an international flight, they added. A senior police officer said the gang approached her with several incentives to recruit her as a courier.