Rs.11 crore cocaine seized from Tanzanian national at airport

Hyderabad: In one of the largest seizures of cocaine by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) here, a 44-year-old Tanzanian national was caught carrying 1,157 grams of the contraband worth Rs  11.57 crore at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

DRI, based on data analysis and intelligence gathering, intercepted the male passenger while he arrived from Johannesburg via Dubai by an Emirates flight on April 21.

"Upon questioning, he revealed that he had ingested capsules of cocaine and purged 22 of them at the airport. He urgently sought medical assistance and was hospitalized. In the next five days, he ejected 57 more capsules. These capsules carrying the contraband were covered with transparent adhesive tape," officials said.

The passenger was arrested on Tuesday and remanded to judicial custody.

"It was revealed he swallowed these capsules in Pretoria prior to his journey to India. "He was supposed to purge them over a period of 3-4 days and hand them over to someone here," officials said.