Zimbabwe woman nabbed with 15 kg narcotics

NEW DELHI: The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) apprehended a 45-yearold woman from Zimbabwe with 15 kg narcotics substance (pseudoephedrine) at IGI Airport on Wednesday night. The womanb has been identified as Norest Gwatidzo, who was supposed to travel to Addis Ababa by an Ethiopian Airlines flight on Wednesday.

According to CISF officials, at around 11.35 pm, on the basis of profiling, CISF surveillance and intelligence staff noticed the suspicious movement of a foreign woman passenger in the check-in area of Terminal-3, IGI Airport and selected her for a thorough search. She was brought to the random checking point and her baggage was passed through the X-BIS machine.

“During screening, some suspicious images of pouches were noticed in her bag. On physical search of the bag, 15 polythene pouches with brown tape (weighing about one kg each) filled with white granular and powdery substance (appeared to be contraband) were found concealed in between her clothes,” said CISF PRO Hemendra Singh.

He added that the white granular/powdery substance was immediately checked through drug detection kit, which confirmed the substance to be pseudoephedrine.

Senior officers of CISF and Narcotics Control Bureau were informed. Later, the woman passenger as well as the recovered pseudoephedrine drug – claimed to be worth Rs 23 lakh in the international market – were handed over to the NCB officials for further action in the matter.