Hyderabad: A woman from Delhi, who was caught with 1.99 kg of cocaine, valued at Rs 10 crore, at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport was convicted by a city court on Friday.
The woman was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and directed to pay Rs 1 lakh towards penalty.
The woman, identified as Jyothi Jha, a resident of Delhi, had smuggled the contraband by concealing the same between the covers of five books. She had arrived in Shamshabad from Dubai in an Emirates flight (EK 526) on May 17, 2016, when she was intercepted by DRI officials on grounds of suspicion.
She was carrying a backpack with five books in it.
After due inspection of the backpack, a white lumpy powder was found deftly concealed inside the covers of the books, lined with aluminum foil. The books and the powder were recovered, following which, the woman was taken into custody.
On verification, the powder tested positive for cocaine, a drug banned under the NDPS Act. The seized drug was valued at around `10 crores in the grey market.
DRI officials said that further investigation of the woman revealed that she was carrying the contraband on the behest of certain Nigerians who had befriended her in New Delhi.
After completion of the investigation, the case was charge-sheeted before the Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court in Rangareddy district in November 2016, and the trial was conducted by a special public prosecutor.
Jyothi was produced before the court on Friday for the final hearing, and the court convicted her under sections 23 (C), 8 and 9 of the NDPS Act.
She was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and directed to pay `1 lakh towards the penalty for illegal import of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances into India.
However, she was acquitted under section 235 (1) of the CrPC for the offences punishable under section 21, 28 and 29 of the NDPS Act.
