Flyer held; Rs 90 crore worth cocaine seized in 3 cities

BENGALURU: A 33-year-old woman was arrested and cocaine worth Rs 30 crore was confiscated at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) here.
This was followed by two more drug-busts at Chennai and Mumbai international airports on Sunday and Monday, resulting in the seizure of cocaine worth another Rs 60 crore and the arrest of two men.

Investigators are now hunting for the masterminds who used to run the drug smuggling racket from South America via Africa, sources said.
In the Bengaluru operation, the woman smuggler was nabbed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials at KIA on February 20, 2023. Following a tip-off, sleuths from the Bengaluru unit of DRI reached KIA and frisked passengers disembarking from an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, sources said.
It was during frisking that a woman from a northeastern state was intercepted. She was found to be in an extremely nervous state, raising the suspicion of officials.
Suspect flew from Delhi to Ethiopia
When her black suitcase was subjected to a thorough examination, a pocket at the bottom of the baggage was found, which when cut open, revealed small packs containing a white powder. The woman was immediately arrested. The contraband she was carrying was raw cocaine sourced from South America, weighing 2.5kg and with an estimated market value of Rs 30 crore.
Interrogation revealed the suspect had flown from New Delhi to the Ethiopian capital at the behest of a Delhi-based gang led by unidentified African nationals. The cocaine she was carrying was smuggled to Bengaluru for it to be transferred to Delhi on a domestic flight, before its eventual delivery to the handlers there, sources said.
More seizures at Chennai, Mumbai airports
Following the Bengaluru haul, similar drug smuggling attempts through other Indian airports by the same gang came to light, which resulted in the arrest of two more persons from Chennai and Mumbai.
A 33-year-old man, also from a northeastern state, was arrested at Chennai airport on Sunday. He was carrying 2.5kg of cocaine worth Rs 30 crore inside his luggage. He too had landed in Chennai from Addis Ababa.
The following day, DRI officials nabbed a 52-year-old man at Mumbai airport soon after he landed from Ethiopia, carrying 2.5 kg of cocaine concealed in his checked-in bag. All three smugglers were arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and jailed.