In yet another major seizure of drugs in recent times, Customs officials at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad, on Friday seized 6.75 kg of heroin worth ₹54 crore from a 26-year-old South African national.
Based on passenger profiling, officials of Air Intelligence identified and intercepted a South African woman, who arrived from Johannesburg via Doha by Qatar Airways flight no. QR-500. During physical examination of her baggage, they found five women handbags and two file folders inside. “On suspicion that narcotic goods could be hidden inside, the handbags and file folders were cut open, and we found 14 black plastic packets concealed inside the side walls/ layers,” an official said, adding that packets contained a brownish-white powder.
When tested with the Narcotic Drug Detection Kit, officials found that it was heroin, a narcotic drug which is banned under NDPS Act, 1985. The smuggled heroin valued at ₹54 crore in the international grey market was seized and the passenger arrested.
