Venezuelan gets 10 yrs for cocaine smuggling

MUMBAI: A special NDPS Act court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced a Venezuelan national, a woman, to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a Rs 1 lakh fine in a case of cocaine smuggling.
The accused, Yurena Marchena, was arrested from the city's international airport in 2017 after a search was conducted on a tip-off. and she was found carrying 1.8kg of cocaine in her check-in luggage.
It was alleged that on the morning of November 6, 2017, during the search, when the bag was inspected by the NCB officers, they found packaging containing suspicious powder.
It was alleged that when it was opened and a pinch of powder tested, it tested positive for cocaine. Later, bulk quantity of 1.830 kg. powder suspected to be cocaine was recovered. Another accused, Ejike Anichukwu, a Nigerian was acquitted for lack of evidence.