2kg of cocaine seized at Chennai airport; Kenyan national arrested

CHENNAI: In the third seizure of synthetic drugs within a month at Chennai airport, sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 2 kg of cocaine worth Rs 20 crore from a Kenyan national who arrived from Ethiopia on Tuesday. Based on information, DRI sleuths camped at Chennai airport and searched for some passengers who arrived from Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight. A male Kenyan national was intercepted, and since he gave evasive replies, his luggage was thoroughly checked.DRI sleuths found packets wrapped in black adhesives concealed in his checked-in luggage. Field drug tests confirmed it to be cocaine. In total, two kg of cocaine was seized from him. In the international drug market, the consignment is worth Rs 20 crore, said officials. The Kenyan national was arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and remanded in judicial custody.It may be noted that on Sept 1, customs sleuths at Chennai airport seized 5.6 kg of cocaine worth Rs 56 crore from two Indian nationals who arrived from Ethiopia. The Narcotics Control Bureau joined the investigation and arrested two more persons of the drug syndicate in Mumbai and Delhi. On Aug 23, two kg of cocaine was seized from a Nigerian woman in a joint operation by customs and NCB.