Mumbai Airport Drug Bust: Cocaine Worth Rs 11.25 Crore Seized, 4 Foreign Nationals Arrested

In a major anti-narcotics crackdown, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized 2.25 kg of cocaine worth Rs 11.25 crore and arrested four foreign nationals in two separate operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai.

Officials said the operations were launched based on specific intelligence inputs about suspected drug couriers arriving from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia , a route increasingly coming under the scanner of Indian anti-drug agencies.

In the latest operation conducted on May 22, DRI officers intercepted a male and a female passenger soon after they landed in Mumbai. During sustained interrogation, both admitted to having swallowed capsules filled with narcotic substances for smuggling purposes. They were shifted to a government hospital, where doctors recovered 84 cocaine-filled capsules weighing around 1.40 kg , valued at nearly Rs 7 crore in the illegal market.

Earlier, on May 19, another African man and woman arriving from Addis Ababa were intercepted on similar suspicion. Medical examination later led to the recovery of 63 capsules containing 850 grams of cocaine , estimated to be worth about Rs 4.25 crore.

The seized narcotics were confiscated under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 , and all four accused have been arrested. Officials said investigators are now trying to uncover the international trafficking syndicate , trace possible domestic handlers , and identify links with wider drug smuggling networks operating through Indian airports.

The latest bust comes barely days after the DRI seized another 2.659 kg of cocaine worth Rs 13.29 crore at Mumbai airport in separate operations involving liquid cocaine concealed in baggage and capsules swallowed by a passenger, indicating a worrying rise in sophisticated narcotics smuggling attempts through African transit routes.