Contraband worth ₹24 crore seized from passenger at Nagpur airport

The seizure of such a significant quantity of the amphetamine-type substance from a small airport like the one in Nagpur indicates that newer places and methods are being adopted by narcotics trafficking syndicates involved in this illegal activity, said a DRI source.

MUMBAI: Around 3.07 kilograms of amphetamine-type substance, estimated to be worth over ₹24 crore, has been seized from an Indian air passenger who arrived in Nagpur from Kenya via United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to the Mumbai zonal unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

Contraband worth ₹24 crore seized from passenger at Nagpur airport

The contraband is a highly addictive stimulant, a psychotropic substance covered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

The contraband, in powder form, was concealed inside a hollow metal roller found in the passenger’s personal baggage, agency sources said. The contraband is suspected of being sent by an international narcotic syndicate, sources added.

The agency arrested the carrier, who had arrived from Nairobi, Kenya via Sharjah, UAE, at Nagpur’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport on Sunday, under the provisions of the NDPS Act.

In a swift follow up operation based on the carrier’s revelations, DRI sleuths arrested from Delhi, a Nigerian national, who was to receive the consignment. The arrested carrier revealed that he had agreed to carry the contraband in lieu of the payment of a few lakhs in Indian rupees, sources said.

The alleged intended receiver was arrested on Monday by the agency from West Delhi’s Subhash Nagar locality. His suspected criminal antecedents and links with the operatives of the trafficking syndicate involved in the smuggling bid are being ascertained, sources said.

The DRI’s preliminary probe has revealed that the Nigerian national was to coordinate the further sale of the contraband in the grey markets of Delhi, the sources said.

Officers of the Nagpur unit of the DRI’s Mumbai zonal unit intercepted the Indian passenger, who had “ingeniously concealed the contraband in a hollow metal roller packed in a rectangular carton box kept in his personal baggage,” a DRI source said. The passenger had arrived via an Air Arabia Flight. He was later remanded to DRI’s custody by a magistrate court.

“The seizure of such a significant quantity of the amphetamine-type substance from a small airport like the one in Nagpur indicates that newer places and methods are being adopted by narcotics trafficking syndicates involved in this illegal activity,” said the DRI source.

“The DRI is committed to maintaining constant vigil to thwart these syndicates,” the source said, adding that when used for non-medical purposes, such stimulants can have severe adverse health effects, including euphoria, lack of appetite and weight loss.

During the last fortnight, the DRI has seized two smuggled consignments of cocaine, one involving 1,496 grams and worth ₹15 crore in the grey markets, while the other weighed 785 grams and was estimated to be worth ₹7.85 crore. Cocaine consignments had been seized from two flight passengers who had arrived in Mumbai from Ethiopia.