In major drug bust at Hyd airport, cocaine worth Rs 80 cr seized from two passengers

A few days ago, DRI officers arrested another Tanzanian man at the RGI Airport after he was found to be possessing cocaine worth Rs 11.57 crore. He had travelled to Hyderabad from Johannesburg with 79 capsules of cocaine in his stomach.

Similarly, a Malawi national who arrived in Hyderabad from Nairobi via Doha on a business visa was arrested by the DRI after he was found to be carrying Rs 21 crore worth of heroin.

In the statement, DRI said that the instances of smuggling drugs through airports have increased with the easing of restrictions on air travel and increased passenger traffic. “Ingenious ways of transporting the contraband have been noticed by way of laminating drugs finely into their baggage which are almost invisible to the naked eye or by concealment in shampoos and food items or at times the passenger becomes body carrier by ingesting drugs in laminated capsules,” it said adding that multiple cases involving the seizure of cocaine concealed in the form of pills ingested by air passengers have been booked by the DRI in the last four months.

Earlier in March and April, the DRI had booked two cases in Mumbai after it recovered 2.42 kg of cocaine concealed in pills ingested by two passengers. A similar case of cocaine seizure was booked in Bengaluru in August 2021.

According to DRI, its sustained efforts have led to the seizure of more than 350 kg of cocaine, estimated to be worth Rs. 3,500 crore in the illicit market, across the country after January 2021. This includes a big haul of about 303 kg of cocaine, seized from a containerised cargo at Tuticorin Port.