Hyderabad, May 2 (IANS) Eight kg cocaine valued at Rs 80 crore has been seized from two passengers at Hyderabad International Airport by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), an official said on Monday.
The contraband was seized in two separate cases. A male Tanzanian national, travelling from Cape Town to Hyderabad on a business visa and a lady passenger from Angola, with itinerary Angola - Mozambique - Lusaka - Dubai - Hyderabad on a tourist Visa were arrested.
Acting on specific intelligence, the officers of DRI unravelled two cases in a late night operation on May 1.
A total of 8 kg of cocaine, each passenger carrying 4 kg, were seized from the passengers from the packets concealed in the false bottom of their trolley bags. The estimated value of the seized cocaine in the illicit market is Rs 80 crore.
According to the DRI, the instances of smuggling drugs through air have increased with easing restrictions on air travel and increased passenger traffic.
While Indian Customs have facilitated the clearances smoothly, the alert officers have busted the drug smuggling syndicates and nabbed carriers on multiple occasions across the country. Ingenious ways of transporting the contraband have been noticed by way of laminating drugs finely into their baggage which are almost invisible to the naked eye or by concealment in shampoos and food items or at times the passenger becomes body carrier by ingesting drugs in laminated capsules.
Multiple cases involving seizure of cocaine concealed in the form of pills ingested by air passengers have been booked by the DRI in the last four months. In two such cases booked in Mumbai during March and April, a total of 2.42 kg of cocaine was found concealed in pills ingested by two passengers.
In April, 1.15 kg of cocaine concealed in pills ingested by a passenger was seized at Hyderabad, and in another case one kg of cocaine was seized at Bengaluru in August 2021. Apart from Mumbai and Hyderabad, seizures of cocaine have also been affected at other airports also.
Sustained efforts of DRI has led to seizure of more than 350 kg of cocaine, estimated to be worth Rs 3,500 crore in illicit market, across the country after January, 2021. This includes a big haul of about 303 kg of cocaine, seized from a containerised cargo at Tuticorin Port.
Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) chief Amarinder Singh on Friday announced his party's alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the 2022 Assembly polls in Punjab.
In a bizarre incident, a man married his own sister at a mass marriage event to obtain money from the Mukhyamantri Samuhik Vivaah Yojana scheme, under which weddings are conducted by the social welfare department.
It is simply not news – although it might be if it were banned in the West, not just in India. For Canada, Britain and the US, freedom of speech is the rule and there's been no effort to silence SFJ. Although this irritates Indian authorities, Western politicians do not pay any price for tolerating speech which voters hardly notice, Milewski said.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Thursday made a slew of historical announcements for the Christian community, including setting up of a Chair at university level for the study of the Bible. In his address here, the Chief Minister said that Christians would be given due representation in the state government boards.
The commission's team also comprises three Deputy Election Commissioners, Chandra Bhushan Kumar, Nitesh Vyas and T. Sreekanth, besides Director General Sheyphali B. Sharan.
According to the official, an FIR was registered under sections 380, 457 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code at Jagatpuri police station where the complainant stated that a cash of Rs 5 lakh and jewellery have been stolen from his house while he was outside home in an engagement function of his daughter.
