Officials at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru were intrigued by a 40-year-old Venezuelan passenger flying from Dubai (UAE) to Bengaluru on February 9. Throughout the journey, he refused to consume anything, including water. This raised red flags. He was detained and subjected to a medical examination. It turned out that the passenger had capsules containing 920 grams of cocaine in his belly. The drugs were worth ₹9.2 crore, one of the biggest seizures at the KIA in recent times.
The accused was a mule for an international drug racket. He was carrying the narcotics for his contact in New Delhi, officials from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said.
On February 28, DRI officials arrested a 25-year-old man from Delhi who was carrying 1,498 grams of gold bars. Based on passenger profiling, officials zeroed in on the accused who was caught soon after he landed at the KIA from Dubai. The accused had gone to Dubai on a tourist visa. He returned to Bengaluru within a few days after getting an assignment as a mule. The accused had planned to take a flight from Bengaluru to Delhi.
