Brazilian woman, who ingested cocaine valued at Rs 13 crore, nabbed

The woman was caught red-handed with 866 grams of cocaine valued at Rs 12.999 crore in the international market. The woman hid the contraband in her stomach by ingesting about 98 cocaine capsules

New Delhi: The Customs Department on Sunday arrested a Brazilian woman with drugs valued at Rs 13 crore at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.

The woman was caught red-handed with 866 grams of cocaine valued at Rs 12.999 crore in the international market. The woman hid the contraband in her stomach by ingesting about 98 cocaine capsules.

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The 26-year-old Brazilian reached Delhi from Sao Paulo via Paris and was subsequently nabbed and booked under Sections 21, 23, and 29 of the Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances Act. During the investigation, the accused also confessed to swallowing drug capsules. She was taken to the hospital after officials detected a highly risky and concealed mode of drug smuggling. When the capsules were removed from her stomach and the wrapper was opened, the substance was found to be cocaine.

In recent days, the Customs Department apprehended a couple of foreign nationals with cocaine and other contraband, trying to smuggle the drugs into the country. On February 7, another Brazilian woman was caught with cocaine at Delhi International Airport. About 802 grams of cocaine was recovered from the woman, whose price in markets stood at Rs 12.03 crore. The woman had swallowed 100 capsules containing cocaine.

On the same day, a Kenyan man was arrested with 996 grams of cocaine who had come to New Delhi from Addis Ababa. The accused had swallowed 67 capsules. The value of cocaine recovered from him was Rs 14.94 crore.

In all three cases, the smugglers used their bodies to conceal the drugs and smuggle them into the country. It’s because of the swift action by IGI Airport Customs officials that about 2.66 kg of cocaine worth Rs 39.96 crore were stopped from entering the markets. Investigation is underway to find out the big network behind these operations.