DELHI: Two Nigerian nationals and a Delhi resident, Ghana national, were arrested on at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) with 9 kg of cocaine worth approximately Rs 50 crore. Reportedly, this is one of the biggest seizures at the airport.
The cocaine was concealed in rexin and carbon paper to avoid detection through an X-ray scanner. Airport sources said the seizure and arrests thereafter were made by a joint team of the Customs department and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
A senior airport official said that two Nigerian women, who were traveling from São Paulo in Brazil to New Delhi, were intercepted on a specific input from the NCB regional office in New Delhi. The women, who according to officials are in the age group of 35 to 37 years, had arrived by an Emirates flight, EK 511, via Dubai on Tuesday morning.
Sources said that based on the input, Customs and NCB officials closed in and seized the substance contained in a suitcase the women were carrying. “The women had made a false cavity inside the suitcase where they had concealed the substance wrapped in packets. It is unclear where they loaded the substance; whether at Sao Paulo or at Dubai,” a senior airport official said.
Subsequently, during questioning, the women disclosed that they were to deliver the consignment to a Delhi resident who too was arrested subsequently.
Sources said their questioning was still underway. The source of the consignment is yet to be traced, officials said. Officials said that the seized substance is worth approximately Rs 50 crore in the international market. In 2013, 5 kg of cocaine, concealed in packets of snacks, were seized from the cargo terminal of the IGIA. The substance was being sent to the US and UK.
