Kochi: Giving dangerous signals that narcotics are set to flow through the state in a big way, in the biggest seizure in the state, cocaine worth Rs 15 crore in the international market was seized in a joint operation of the CISF and officers of the Narcotics Control Bureau at Cochin international airport on Sunday from a Paraguan native. The passenger named Maldonado Fernandes, 30, was arrested for smuggling 3.650 kg cocaine when he was trying to board a flight to Bangalore. In September this year the NCB had effected a similar quantity seizure in Chennai. “The arrested foreigner was holding an air ticket to Goa via Bengaluru. He had come via Dubai,”said Venugopal G. Kurup, Superintendent, NCB, Cochin.
The officers, while frisking the accused prior to his entry into the security area of the domestic terminal, detected some padding on his body. “He was therefore taken for pat down checks to the room designated for the purpose. While carrying out the pat down search, it was noticed that he concealed some white coloured powder packed in plastic pouches designed like cricket pads and strapped on his waist and shin below the knees. The padding was XRay screened and it showed some organic material. On inspecting the material, it showed positive for cocaine. The material was further checked with narcotics detection kit and the test confirmed that the material was cocaine,” said officials. He reached Kochi from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Dubai.
“The contraband was on its way from the South American nation to Goa. They preferred Kochi since the other bigger airports are on high alert, especially regarding passengers from South America. In foreign airports there is no human frisking while in this case the Paraguan national had not gone out of Dubai airport. This guy was tracked in human frisking,” said Venugopal. Cocaine is a strong stimulant narcotic contraband mostly used as a recreational drug. It is commonly snorted, or as a solution injecting into the vein.
