DRI seizes drug worth Rs 15 cr at Mumbai airport; Indian passenger and Ugandan woman held

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has seized a white powder, purported to be cocaine, worth about Rs 15 crore from an Indian passenger at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here, a DRI official said here on Sunday.

Based on intelligence, the passenger who came via a flight from Addis Ababa to Mumbai was apprehended on Friday, he said.

An examination of his luggage resulted in the recovery of 1,496 grams of a white powder, purported to be cocaine, with a value of approximately Rs 15 crore in the illicit market, the official said.

Further, based on sustained interrogation of the passenger and surveillance, the DRI officers laid a trap and apprehended the recipient, who came to collect the contraband at Vashi in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, he said. The nabbed recipient is a female Ugandan national, the official said.

Both the carrier and recipient have been arrested under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. An investigation is in progress to unearth further links of the drugs supply chain, the official added.