Customs seize heroin worth Rs 1 crore

On Saturday, Customs seized 1kg of heroin that was concealed in milk chocolates and was being smuggled out of the country. The price of the cache is estimated to be worth Rs1 crore. Manish Pachouly reports.

On Saturday, Customs seized 1kg of heroin that was concealed in milk chocolates and was being smuggled out of the country. The price of the cache is estimated to be worth Rs1 crore.

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An AIU batch, headed by deputy commissioner of Customs Sameer Wankhede, intercepted 29-year-old Iyanda Elizabeth, a resident of Ivory Coast, who was about to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight for Addis Ababa around 4.30am.

Officials found her movements to be suspicious and a sniffer dog began barking at the woman’s bag. The bag was opened and customs officials found a cardboard box full of chocolates.

The first few stacks revealed nothing unusual. However, upon further inspection, officials found heroin packed in a plastic pouch, which was concealed in the chocolate wrapper and resealed. "The chocolate was removed from the wrapper and heroin was packed in its place," a customs official said.

There were 10 such packs, each with 100 gm of heroin. By the end of the exercise, officials had recovered 1kg of the drug.

Officials said they would check her old passport to find out if she had travelled to India earlier. Officials are also trying to trace the source of heroin. The woman has been arrested.