Mumbai: NCB seizes 7 kg of cocaine worth Rs 30 cr, 4 Africans among 5 held

The Narcotics Control Bureau NCB has seized 7 kg of cocaine worth Rs 30 crore and arrested five persons four of them African nationals in operations conducted in New Delhi and Mumbai an official said on TuesdayTwo women an Indian and an Ethiopian were among those apprehendedIn a joint operation the NCBs Mumbai and Delhi units recovered 49 kg of cocaine from a woman in the Tilak Nagar area of New Delhi on October 13 the official saidThe contraband was concealed in a trolley bag found in the womans possession he saidA probe revealed the drug was sourced from a hotel in the Masjid Bandar area of Mumbai and in an immediate followup action two Ethiopian nationals who had allegedly given the trolley bag to the woman were apprehended on October 14 the official saidFollowing further investigations two more Ethiopian nationals including a woman were nabbed from a hotel in Masjid Bandar he saidAlso read Mumbai NCB recovers drug worth Rs 120 croreAt least 2 kg of cocaine was recovered from a similar trolley bag and USD 8000 in cash was seized from the duos possession he saidIn all cocaine weighing nearly 7 kg and valued at around Rs 30 crore was seized by the drug law enforcement agency the official saidInvestigations have revealed the arrested accused were part of a syndicate being managed by Nigerian drug traffickers he saidThe woman arrested from Delhi is the wife of one of the kingpins operating the drug syndicate from Delhi He was allegedly using his wife a mother of three as a local carrier to facilitate the transshipment of cocaine from drug mules transporters of narcotics at Mumbai to his Delhi residence he saidThe contraband was to be delivered to other kingpins in Delhi and further distributed to other parts of the country the official saidThe drug mules were being paid handsomely for their sponsored trips to carry the consignments about USD 1000 to USD 1200 per kg depending on the risk involved the official saidIt was also found that these syndicate members were using social media platforms and virtual numbers for communicating with each other he saidThe syndicate handlers used to pass on directions to these mules either directly or via designated members to avoid being tracked the official saidAccording to the NCB drug traffickers were using citizens of African countries as carriers and switching airports based on security measures taken by law enforcement agenciesThe entire trip of drug carriers was sponsored by handlers controlling the syndicate from African countries All the drug carriers arrested in the two operations were first time travellers to India the official saidDuring preliminary investigation it was found the syndicate had a meeting with a group of eight to 10 drug carriers in Ethiopia and the main handler had assigned roles and tasks to each of them to transport consignment in India he saidSome of the active syndicate members and carriers landed in different cities in India and delivered their consignments to their counterparts he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever