DRI seizes cocaine worth Rs 15 cr at Mumbai airport, 2 including Ugandan national held

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 20 (ANI): The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) foiled a drug smuggling operation and arrested two persons, including a female Ugandan national at Mumbai airport, on Friday and seized around 1496 grammes of cocaine worth Rs 15 crore, an official said. 

According to DRI officials, based on intelligence, one Indian passenger, who came via Flight No. ET 640 from Addis Ababa to Mumbai on August 18, 2023, was apprehended by DRI officers. 

During search examination of his luggage resulted in the recovery of 1496 grammes of white powder, purported to be cocaine, with an illicit market value of approx. Rs 15 Crore. 

Based on sustained interrogation of the passenger and surveillance, in a meticulously planned operation, the DRI officers laid a trap and apprehended the recipient of the said contraband drugs, who came to collect the drugs at Vashi, Navi Mumbai.

The nabbed recipient is a female Ugandan national, they added. 

Both the carrier and recipient have been arrested under the provisions of the NDPS Act of 1985 and remanded to judicial custody, they said. 

Further investigation is in progress to unearth further links in the drug supply chain, DRI officials added.