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31-yr-old nabbed at IGI for trying to smuggle heroin worth ₹4.5 crore
New Delhi: Customs at the Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport on Saturday arrested a 31-year-old Afghan man for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country
New Delhi: Customs at the Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport on Saturday arrested a 31-year-old Afghan man for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country heroin worth ₹4.5 crore. The man had stuffed 635 grams of heroin in 89 small plastic capsuled and had ingested them to avoid being caught at the customs.
According to the customs officials, the man had landed at the Delhi airport from Mazār-e Sharīf in Afghanistan on December 29. He was intercepted by the customs sleuths following inputs and was asked to cooperate for a detailed screening.
“During questioning it surfaced that the Afghan man had ingested capsules full of narcotics substance. He was then taken to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital where 89 capsules were extracted from his body over a period of three days. A total of 635.5 grams heroin worth ₹4.5 crore was recovered from the capsules. The man was officially arrested on Saturday,” said a customs officer requesting anonymity.
The official said the man is being questioned to find out his contacts in Delhi to whom he was supposed to deliver the consignment. “No previous involvement of the man has surfaced so far. Further probe revealed that the man had his passport recently issued,” he said.
In another catch on Saturday, customs arrested an Indian man and recovered from him 16 iPhones and a MacBook laptop worth over ₹17 lakh that he was allegedly trying to smuggle in. The man was intercepted when he arrived from Dubai. Following his arrest, the man also confessed to have smuggled iPhones and cosmetics in the past.
“The phones were being smuggled to be sold in local markets at higher prices. The man was placed under arrest and the recovered iPhones and the MacBook were seized,” the officer said.
On Saturday, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said it has also recovered 5.35 Kg heroin from two Zambian nationals and arrested them in two separate incidents. The first arrest was made on December 25 when an NCB team intercepted a Zambian at the Delhi airport and recovered from him 4.6 Kg heroin. His questioning led the bureau to another Zambian in Delhi who was arrested and more 700 grams of heroin was recovered, the department said in a statement.
