The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has intercepted a 36-year-old Brazilian woman who smuggled cocaine worth Rs9.7 crore in 124 capsules in her body.
The accused foreign national has been identified as Jacquiline Maltez Tiges.
According to DRI sources, Tiges arrived at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport from São Paulo on Wednesday. Officials found suspicious objects in her body when she went through the body scanner machine.
On questioning, the passenger admitted to having ingested capsules containing drugs and carrying the same in her body for smuggling into India. The passenger was produced before the magistrate and as per the court order, she was admitted to Sir JJ Hospital.
She purged a total of 124 capsules containing 973 grams of cocaine, valued at Rs9.73 crore. The substance, purported to be cocaine as per the field test report, was seized on September 21, under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
The passenger has been arrested and further investigation is underway to trace other members of this international syndicate involved in illegal smuggling of drugs into India. The DRI officials are now probing who provided drugs to Tiges and who was supposed to receive the consignment in Mumbai. The agency officials are also investigating if she had been involved in smuggling in the past.
“It has been observed in the past that people are used as carriers or mules by smuggling syndicates in exchange for money,” an official said on condition of anonymity.
Last month, DRI officers arrested a Kenyan woman who arrived from Nairobi for allegedly smuggling cocaine worth Rs20 crore. The syndicate had adopted a unique modus-operandi whereby they had concealed the liquid cocaine in shampoo / lotion bottles and the appearance of viscous liquid was also similar to shampoo / lotion so as to make the detection difficult.
