Nigerian lands at KIA with 99 cocaine capsules worth Rs 20 crore

BENGALURU: In probably the biggest cocaine smuggling bust involving a single suspect at Kempegowda International Airport, a Nigerian who flew down all the way from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 99 capsules of cocaine in his stomach was nabbed by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence sleuths here.

The capsules weighing 2kg and worth Rs 20 crore were extracted from him over five days in a hospital.

Sources said the smuggler, identified only as a 40-year-old Nigerian on a visiting visa to India for medical reasons, was intercepted by DRI's Bengaluru unit soon after he landed at KIA on the morning of December 11 on an Ethiopian Airlines direct flight.

Sleuths said he had swallowed the capsules before boarding the flight in Addis Ababa. The DRI team secured a magisterial order and took the Nigerian to the hospital. He was arrested and booked under the (NDPS) Act .

Sleuths said the Nigerian had planned to take a domestic flight to Delhi after landing in Bengaluru and was scheduled to hand over the smuggled drugs to handlers in the national capital.