DRI seizes cocaine worth ₹8.9 crore from Ugandan national

The accused revealed to the officials that she was promised a payment of around ₹1 lakh for the delivery of the contraband in the city to a designated receiver but she got intercepted by the agency, foiling her smuggling bid.

MUMBAI: Mumbai zonal unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Tuesday arrested a Ugandan national after allegedly recovering smuggled cocaine worth ₹8.9 crore in the illicit markets.

The accused had allegedly concealed the cocaine in her hair wig and bra pads, the sources said

The agency seized 890 gm of cocaine after the accused arrived at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) from Entebbe in Uganda via Nairobi, Kenya. The accused allegedly worked as a carrier for an international drug trafficking syndicate, DRI sources said.

The accused had allegedly concealed the cocaine in her hair wig and bra pads, the sources said. She revealed to the officials that she was promised a payment of around ₹1 lakh for the delivery of the contraband in the city to a designated receiver but she got intercepted by the agency, foiling her smuggling bid.

“It was a meticulously planned operation, wherein officers of DRI Mumbai busted the attempt of cocaine smuggling by a female Ugandan national, adopting a unique and novel modus operandi involving the concealment in bra pads and a hair wig worn by her,” a DRI source said.

The DRI, as a drugs enforcement agency, has in the past detected numerous modus operandi, ranging from the concealment of narcotic substances in sanitary pads, camouflaging liquid cocaine in whisky bottles, black cocaine, cocaine in moisturizer bottles, among others, but the current case was even more challenging, sources said.

The passenger was arrested under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and remanded in judicial custody when she was produced before a metropolitan magistrate court in the city.

On Monday, in a separate case, the DRI team nabbed an Indian national who arrived from Sierra Leone on a flight allegedly with 4 kg of cocaine, estimated to be worth around ₹40 crore. The carrier had intercepted him at a hotel near CSMIA. A thorough examination of his luggage resulted in the recovery of two packets allegedly containing the contraband material, which was concealed in the upper and lower compartments of his trolley bag, agency sources said.