India News | Tanzanian Man Held for Smuggling Cocaine Worth About Rs 18 Cr at Delhi Airport: Customs

New Delhi, Apr 27 (PTI) A Tanzanian man has been arrested by customs officials at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport here for trying to smuggle into the country around one kilogram of cocaine, worth approximately Rs 18 crore, an official statement issued on Thursday said.

The customs officials of the IGI airport along with officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (headquarters) have booked a case of smuggling of cocaine, in liquid form kept in three liquor bottles of one litre each, against a Tanzanian passenger who had arrived from Addis Ababa on Wednesday.

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The passenger was diverted for the X-ray of his personal and baggage search by the customs officials, said the statement issued by the customs department.

"The customs K-9 (a dog named Nile) raised a narcotics alert after sniffing the bottles," it said.

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Subsequently, on examination of the baggage, three bottles containing narcotics substance suspected to be cocaine were found inside, the statement said.

A senior customs officer said that the cocaine has not been extracted yet as it is now in liquid form mixed with alcohol.

"Testing with a field kit gave a 40 per cent cocaine concentration in the liquid. Therefore, approximately three-litre solution would contain about 1.2 kg cocaine worth Rs about Rs 18 crore," the officer said, adding that the passenger has been arrested.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)