DRI busts international drug smuggling syndicate, cocaine worth Rs 100 cr seized

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has busted a major international drug smuggling syndicate operating and based in India, the officials said on Tuesday.

According to the DRI, in a major success to curb the drug menace in India, the DRI officers busted an international drug smuggling syndicate.

The agency said that the DRI has seized 9.829 kgs of cocaine having illicit market value of approximately 100 crores and apprehended two female passengers of Indonesian and Thai nationality who had come from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with an aim of smuggling the said quantity of cocaine into India.

“The interrogation of the passengers, swift analysis of the case data and past records revealed that the said drugs were destined for drug smuggling and trafficking syndicate based in Delhi and nearby areas. One team of DRI officers stationed in Mumbai placed a surveillance and started monitoring syndicate activities while one team of DRI Mumbai officers was deployed and rushed to Delhi to apprehend the other key members of the syndicate,” the DRI said.

The officers reached Delhi and they kept surveillance overnight and were successful in catching the prospective recipient of the seized substance (African National). Officers laid a trap in Greater Noida with the help of local officers and identified the mastermind, DRI said.

During the interception, the mastermind got violent and he sprinted by pushing the officers with his full might. DRI officers, in a dramatic chase, apprehended the said Nigerian mastermind and his associate. The officers as well as the accused got mildly injured during the chase, the agency further said.

Subsequently, both these members of the international drug smuggling syndicate along with the above-mentioned 02 passengers have been arrested by DRI, Mumbai under provisions of the NDPS Act, 1985, according to the DRI.

In the entire operation, a total 9.829 kgs of cocaine having illicit market value of approximately 100 crores has been seized by the DRI, Mumbai officers from the above-said ladies of foreign origin before the same could be delivered to said international drug smuggling syndicate based in India, having their expanse in Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and Nigeria, the DRI said in a statement.