New Delhi: Heroin worth Rs 90 crore was seized from two Udangan women, who came to India as medical tourists, at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi, an official statement issued on Saturday said.
The officers seized 12.9kg of heroin from the two passengers who had arrived from Nairobi, Kenya via Abu Dhabi during the intervening night of November 12 and 13, it said.
The value of the seized narcotic substance is approximately pegged at Rs 90 crore as per the prevailing international prices, the customs department said in the statement.
The narcotic and the smugglers had passed through several jurisdictions, including Uganda, Kenya and India, before being intercepted, it said, adding that the heroin was concealed in the false cavity of their check-in luggage.
The baggage of the passengers was also sniffed by canine squad of the Indian customs stationed at the Delhi airport and they indicated the presence of some narcotic substance in the baggage, the statement said.
On detailed personal and baggage search and questioning, the woman passengers admitted to having brought the heroine in their checked-in baggage by ingeniously concealing it in the especially made cavities beneath the fake layer of fibre-plastic base on both the sides of the suitcases, it said.
It was vacuum packed in plastic and paper bags containing crystalline form of off-white-coloured powder or granules of heroin, the statement said.
During questioning, one of the woman passengers revealed that she was introduced to a Kenyan national, who had promised her money in exchange of delivery of certain goods in Delhi, it said.
Thus, on this invite, she travelled to Nairobi from Kampala by road where the Kenyan handed over a bag to be delivered in Delhi while also providing tickets and certain documents to cover her visit as a medical tourist, the statement said.
"She was supposed to deliver the goods to a person who would contact her on exit. When she was intercepted by customs officials, she was found to be in possession of a bag with a false bottom/cavity where 5.4kg of heroin was concealed," it said.
The other woman passenger was also intercepted in the same flight in almost similar manner in which she was found to be in possession of two bags with false cavity containing cumulative of 7.5kg of concealed heroin.
"During her preliminary questioning, the woman passenger revealed that she was sent by her sister from Kampala to Nairobi by road and from there to Delhi via Abu Dhabi by the aforementioned flight. This passenger was also possessing certain documents to fake the profile of a medical tourist," the statement said.
14/11/21 Times of India
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