In the biggest seizure at Mumbai airport this year, DRI nabs foreigner with ₹18-crore cocaine

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials have arrested Republic of Guinea national at Mumbai airport while he was smuggling in cocaine worth around ₹18 crore.

In the biggest seizure of cocaine this year at the city airport, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials have arrested Republic of Guinea national at Mumbai airport while he was smuggling in cocaine worth around ₹18 crore. The accused had concealed the drugs in a false cavity made in the trolley bag.

The accused had concealed the drugs in a false cavity made in the trolley bag. (HT)

The arrested accused has been identified as Moussa Camara, 34.

According to DRI officials, they had received specific intelligence about Camara, who was travelling from Addis Ababa to Mumbai via Dubai, smuggling drugs into the country. Acting on the information, Camara was detained at the airport on Tuesday afternoon when he arrived at the airport.

He was frisked and his luggage was examined. While checking his trolley bag, officials discovered a false cavity at the bottom where a packet containing around 3kg white powder was found. With the help of field test kit, DRI officials ascertained that the substance is cocaine. The same was seized and Camara was placed under arrest under relevant sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Sustained interrogation of the accused revealed that he belongs to a poor family and has six brothers. A DRI official said Camara used to drive a taxi in his country, but as he was suffering from a medical condition he was in need of money. A local point person of the racket offered him job as a drug mule in exchange for taking care of his medical expenses and his family.

“It becomes easy for drug rackets to use people looking for medical tourism as mules as the chances of them getting caught are lesser because of their genuine medical history,” a DRI officer said.

Analysis of previous seizures of cocaine and arrests of foreigners have revealed that in Mumbai cocaine is ferried mostly by the persons of African origin who are hired by Colombian and other South American drug cartels. Most cocaine peddlers and smugglers who have been arrested in Mumbai by anti-drug agencies belong to African countries, especially Nigeria which known to be a key transit point for Colombian drug cartels, said a senior police officer.

DRI officials said drug traffickers have changed their modus operandi. Earlier, drug mules would conceal the drugs in their body. Last year dozens of foreigners were arrested by agencies at the airport while smuggling drugs in capsules inside their body. Now rackets are concealing drugs in cavities made in bags or trolleys, DRI officials said.

Tuesday’s seizure is the second cocaine seizure carried out by DRI within two days. On Monday, DRI arrested a national of Malawi, an east African country, while she was smuggling in cocaine worth ₹6 crore via a similar air route — from Addis Ababa to Mumbai via Dubai.

Last week, DRI had arrested four people, including two Nigerian nationals, in a case involving seizure of 502 gram cocaine. The total quantity of cocaine seized by DRI in the past 10 days is around 4.5 kg worth around ₹27 crore.

The frequent seizures of cocaine in Mumbai are indicative of a high demand of the substance even though it is one of the expensive narcotic drugs, DRI said.