Mumbai: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Wednesday arrested a passenger from Addis Ababa for allegedly smuggling cocaine worth Rs 33.60 crore and weighing 3.36kg in soap boxes.
Officials said that specific intelligence cultivated by the city DRI indicated that an Indian national arriving from Addis Ababa by Ethiopian Airlines might be carrying a narcotic substance covered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. An official on Wednesday found 16 small soap boxes in his luggage with cocaine concealed under the wax-like layer of the soaps.
An official said, “The officers removed the outer layer and found a soap bar wrapped in a transparent plastic. On scratching the soap cake, a powdery substance was found. It tested positive on checking with the narcotics field testing kit.
An agency source said this in another novel concealment method busted by the DRI. Officials said the passenger has been apprehended and is being interrogated for information on the intended beneficiary in India.
(To receive our E-paper on WhatsApp daily, please click here. To receive it on Telegram, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
