Man held at Mumbai airport with cocaine valued at Rs 33.60cr
Darpan News Desk IANS, 01 Feb, 2023 01:29 PM
New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Wednesday arrested an air passenger from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here for possessing 3,360 gram cocaine valued at Rs 33.60 crore.
A DRI official said that they got a specific intelligence tip off that an Indian national arriving from Addis Ababa to Mumbai by Ethiopian Airlines flight might be carrying a narcotic substance.
The DRI intercepted that passenger following the tip-off.
"On examination of his luggage, 16 small soap boxes were recovered. On thorough examination of soap boxes, the officials observed that something is concealed beneath the wax like layer of the soaps. Officers removed the outer wax layer and found a soap bar wrapped in a transparent plastic. The officers scratched the soap cake and a powdery substance was found concealed. The same was tested with a narcotics field testing kit and tested positive for cocaine," the official said.
The DRI said: "Net weight of the recovered substance was 3,360 grams valued at Rs 33.60 crore."
Keeping in view the declining cases of Covid-19 in the country, the government on Wednesday removed mandatory requirement to wear masks in flights. The Ministry of Civil Aviation said that the decision has been taken following a review meeting on the issue with the Ministry of Health.
A police spokesperson said the case properties of drug cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, in Amritsar and Fazilka were destroyed on Tuesday.
Addressing a gathering during at a state-level function to mark the martyrdom day of the Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha at his native village here, the Chief Minister said bestowing the Bharat Ratna award to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha, Shaheed Rajguru, Shaheed Sukhdev, Lala Lajpat Rai and others will enhance the prestige of this award.
A Delhi Police team on Wednesday again visited the rented house, in south Delhi's Chhattarpur, of Aftab Ameen Poonawalla (28), who has been arrested for allegedly killing his live-in partner and chopping her body into 35 pieces for disposal. According to a senior police official, the police team, along with forensic teams, inspected the house again.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday interacted with several world leaders during the ongoing 17th G20 Summit in Bali, including US and French Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron, as well as his British counterpart Rishi Sunak. The Prime Minister's Office shared several photographs of his meetings with the world leaders.
For the second time on Tuesday morning, the police team took the accused Aftab Ameen Poonawala to the Mehrauli forest area to recover the remains of the body of Shraddha Walker which the accused chopped into 35 pieces. He was first taken to the area on Monday.
