DRI recovers drugs worth Rs 20 crore from whiskey bottles at Mumbai airport

The cocaine was being brought in liquor bottles. Pic/ DRI

The officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in Mumbai recovered cocaine worth around Rs. 20 crore from Mumbai airport, the DRI said in a press release issued on Thursday.

It said that based on specific intelligence developed by the officers of the DRI learnt that some narcotic substance is being smuggled into the country by a passenger who is traveling from Lagos via Addis Ababa and was scheduled to arrive in Mumbai on November 24. Following the inputs, the surveillance was mounted by a team of DRI officers at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport Mumbai.

The DRI said, The suspected passenger was identified and intercepted by the team of DRI officers at the airport. A thorough search of his baggage led to the recovery of 2 bottles (1 litre each) of whiskey. On testing the liquid inside the bottles by the drug detection kit, the presence of Cocaine was indicated.

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The gross weight of 2 bottles with liquid cocaine is approx 3.5 kg, it said.

"Cocaine was ingeniously dissolved in the liquid contained in the said bottles to make it extremely difficult to detect. This is a unique modus operandi busted by the DRI indicating the uphill task faced by the officers of DRI on regular basis to check the drugs inflow into the country," the DRI said in a statement.

The illicit international market value of the contraband is more than Rs. 20 Crores (approx). Further investigation in the instant case is under progress to unearth and neutralize the international drug smuggling syndicate behind this, the DRI said further.