Hyderabad, May 2 (IANS) Eight kg cocaine valued at Rs 80 crore has been seized from two passengers at Hyderabad International Airport by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), an official said on Monday.
The contraband was seized in two separate cases. A male Tanzanian national, travelling from Cape Town to Hyderabad on a business visa and a lady passenger from Angola, with itinerary Angola - Mozambique - Lusaka - Dubai - Hyderabad on a tourist Visa were arrested.
Acting on specific intelligence, the officers of DRI unravelled two cases in a late night operation on May 1.
A total of 8 kg of cocaine, each passenger carrying 4 kg, were seized from the passengers from the packets concealed in the false bottom of their trolley bags. The estimated value of the seized cocaine in the illicit market is Rs 80 crore.
According to the DRI, the instances of smuggling drugs through air have increased with easing restrictions on air travel and increased passenger traffic.
While Indian Customs have facilitated the clearances smoothly, the alert officers have busted the drug smuggling syndicates and nabbed carriers on multiple occasions across the country. 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.
Multiple cases involving seizure of cocaine concealed in the form of pills ingested by air passengers have been booked by the DRI in the last four months. In two such cases booked in Mumbai during March and April, a total of 2.42 kg of cocaine was found concealed in pills ingested by two passengers.
In April, 1.15 kg of cocaine concealed in pills ingested by a passenger was seized at Hyderabad, and in another case one kg of cocaine was seized at Bengaluru in August 2021. Apart from Mumbai and Hyderabad, seizures of cocaine have also been affected at other airports also.
Sustained efforts of DRI has led to seizure of more than 350 kg of cocaine, estimated to be worth Rs 3,500 crore in 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.
Lauding this citizen-centric initiative of the Local Government Department, Mann said it would be instrumental in saving the life and property of the people from the hazardous fire incidents often taking place.
Prabhat Kumar, the lawyer of Lalu Prasad Yadav has filed a bail bond of Rs 10 lakh in the Ranchi high court. Besides, another Rs 1 lakh bail bond was also submitted in the court by Ranjan Kumar and Anant Singh, his bail guarantors in the court.
According to the official, a tip-off was received following which an NCB team raided the specified locations and recovered 50 kg high quality heroin, 47 kg suspected narcotics, Rs 30 lakh cash, cash counting machines and other incriminating material.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested one person from West Bengal who is said to be a key accused in the April 16 communal clashes in Jahangirpuri, official sources said here on Thursday. The accused, identified as Farid alias Nilu, was arrested from his relative's place at Tamluk in East Midnapore district of West Bengal.
The community is awaiting the release of Sikh prisoners who have served more than their life sentence in jail and have not been released even after the same was approved by the Centre in 2019 on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
The accused have been identified as Mohammad Riyaz, Ankit Kumar, Kishan Yadav, Manorath, Pooja, Lovely Sharma, Neha Kashyap and Sangeet. Falling for the lucrative offer, the victim transferred Rs 8,500 online, only to receive a fake insurance certificate for his vehicle.
