Cocaine worth Rs 80 crore seized at Hyderabad airport, 2 held

HYDERABAD:  Sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Hyderabad seized eight kg 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 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. 

In April, a passenger who ingested 1.5 kg of cocaine concealed in pills, was arrested.

Methods used by drug smugglers
Drug is concealed in an airtight plastic package which is affixed to the bottom of the baggage.

The banned drug was concealed in tiny sachets of shampoo and food items.

At times, passengers swallow the drugs which are in laminated capsules.
In 2 cases booked in Mumbai in March & April, 2.4 kg of cocaine seized

Over 350 kg cocaine, estimated to cost Rs 3,500 crore were seized across India since Jan 202.