Airport Customs arrest Tanzania national for smuggling cocaine worth Rs 7.5 crore
Gold, foreign currency also seized from other flyers.
2 min read
The pouches contained white coloured substance, suspected to be cocaine. (Express Image)Mumbai Customs on Friday arrested a 47-year-old Tanzanian national, who was detained at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on January 19 for allegedly trying to smuggle cocaine worth Rs 7.5 crore into India by concealing the contraband inside his body.
Lukhumani Fahadi Mawaki was detained by Customs on the basis of passenger profiling. According to Customs officers, Mawaki gorged out around 17 capsules in pallet form at the airport’s washroom. Later at the Sir JJ Hospital, 38 more capsules were recovered from him over January 20-23.
According to the Customs officers, 55 capsules containing a white-coloured crumbled substance (cocaine) weighing 751 grams and priced at Rs 7.51 crore was recovered from the Tanzanian.
The accused had hidden the capsules inside his body as well as ingested them, the Customs officers said. The accused was subsequently arrested under relevant sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
Meanwhile, Customs officers at the airport also seized smuggled gold and foreign currencies. During January 24-25, officers at Airport Commissionerate, Mumbai, Zone-III, seized 1.16 kg gold valued at Rs 86.68 lakh in two separate cases and foreign currency equivalent to Rs 22.40 lakh in one case.
Gold dust and cash was also smuggled by the Tanzanian nationals. (Express Image)
Two passengers arriving from Baku and Jeddah were intercepted by Customs and 24-karat gold dust in wax form weighing 1,010 grams and valued at Rs 75.47 lakh, and 24-karat gold bars weighing 150 grams and valued at Rs 11.20 lakh were seized. The gold was concealed inside their bodies and shoes of the passengers, Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officers said. One of the passengers was arrested under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.
The AIU also intercepted a passenger departing from Mumbai to Dubai and recovered foreign currency (one lakh Saudi Riyal), equivalent to Rs 22.40 lakh. The currency was concealed inside clothes, the agency said.
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