Meth worth Rs 2.67 crore seized from Ugandan woman at Coimbatore airport

COIMBATORE: A 33-year-old woman from Uganda, who was detained at the city airport on Friday (May 6) with methamphetamine (meth) in her stomach, was arrested on Tuesday.
Officials with the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the customs department said they had retrieved 81 capsules containing 892g of meth from the woman’s body through an ejection process that was carried out at the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH). The value of the drug recovered from her is estimated at Rs2.67 crore.
An official said when they produced the accused, Santra Nanteza, before the chief judicial magistrate court on Tuesday afternoon, they were directed to produce her before the special court for the trial of Essential Commodities Act cases.
“She was produced before that court at 3.15pm. S Balasubramanian, special public prosecutor for customs and the directorate of revenue intelligence, appeared on behalf of the prosecution and submitted documents pertaining to the drug seizure and details of the Uganda national. Special court judge N Logeswaran asked her if she was aware of the charges levelled against her and whether she was tortured by the officials. Later, the judge remanded her in judicial custody till May 23,” the official said.
He said the woman would be lodged in the Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai. “We are escorting her to the jail and will arrive there on Wednesday morning.”
Santra Nanteza, wife of Andrew Kato, of Wakiso district in the Central Region of Uganda, was taken into custody immediately after she landed at the city airport on May 6 after the revenue intelligence officials found capsules in her intestine during the scan. She was then admitted to CMCH to retrieve the capsules.