IGI Airport: 1.72 kg cocaine worth Rs 25.91 crore seized, two nabbed
NEW DELHI: Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport customs officials successfully intercepted two different attempts to smuggle cocaine into India and seized a total of 1.72 kg of the prohibited drug. The confiscated drugs worth Rs 25.91 crores were being smuggled by two Brazilian nationals who had swallowed the contraband in capsule form to avoid detection.
The two women had flown into New Delhi on January 26, 2025, on the same flight from São Paulo, Brazil, to Paris, France, before taking a connecting flight to the Indian capital. Their technique of smuggling was to hide the cocaine in their bodies by swallowing capsules filled with drugs, a risky and sometimes fatal method used by global drug cartels.
In the first instance, a Brazilian national was intercepted by customs officials who had crossed the Green Channel. On interrogation and medical examination, it was found that she had swallowed 93 oval-shaped capsules weighing 959 grams of cocaine. The estimated street value of the narcotics recovered was Rs 14.39 crores. She was arrested on 7th February 2025 at 9:15 AM under Section 43(b) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. The drugs were formally seized under Section 43(a) of the same act, and she was charged under Sections 8, 21, 23, and 29 of the NDPS Act. The authorities are now probing her connection with the wider drug trafficking network. In the second case, another Brazilian woman was caught similarly following an identical route.
A total of 79 capsules, weighing 768 grams, were recovered from her. The estimated value of the narcotics was Rs 11.52 crores. She was arrested on February 7, 2025, at 8:30 AM and booked under the same sections of the NDPS Act as the first accused. Police are now attempting to track the global syndicate that was operating the smuggling network.
The seizure underscores the growing reliance of South American cartels on human drug couriers to penetrate the Indian narcotics market. The authorities have tightened airport vigilance, with close examination and intelligence-led profiling to foil such attempts at smuggling. Additional investigation is underway to identify the drug consignment’s intended recipients in India and establish the larger network that is facilitating
these operations.
