Venezuelan man held for smuggling cocaine worth Rs 2.2 crore at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: A 26-year-old Venezuelan national has been arrested for smuggling cocaine worth Rs 2.2 crore at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA).

Mumbai's Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) recovered cocaine, weighing around half kg, concealed in the form of 60 capsules inside the accused's body. According to reports, the man was returning from Brazil when he was intercepted at the Mumbai airport on the suspicion of carrying drugs.

While no drugs were found in his luggage, an X-ray informed the AIU officials about the presence of drugs inside his body.

The man was allegedly being used as a mule to traffic narcotics by a drug racket operating from Brazil. 

The cocaine was recovered from his body in the course of six days during which he was hospitalised.

In a separate incident, a Brazilian man was arrested at the Mumbai airport for attempting to illegally traffic cocaine worth Rs 24 crore on July 24. He was apprehended by the customs officials over suspicious behaviour and was found carrying 4 kg cocaine.

In another incident on July 15, the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) arrested a Nigerian national with over 1 kg of cocaine, worth ₹6 crore in the drug market.