₹434cr heroin seized at airport, after raids

OFFICIALS SAID 7KG OF THE 62KG HEROIN SEIZED WAS RECOVERED IN FOLLOW-UP OPERATIONS IN PUNJAB, HARYANA

HT Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Wednesday said it has seized 62kg of heroin worth ₹434 crore through a consignment that arrived at the air cargo complex of the India Gandhi International (IGI) airport.

A DRI official aware of the matter said that the consignment was intercepted based on a tip-off, adding that the importer of the consignment was apprehended while some other suspects are currently being interrogated.

Officials said the consignment -- supposed to contain 330 trolley bags -- had just 126 trolley bags with heroin weighing 55kg concealed in the bags’ hollow metal tubes. DRI officials said another 7kg of heroin was recovered in follow-up operations in Punjab and Haryana.

“The initial cargo consignment with 55kg heroin, coming from Entebbe in Uganda, was seized on May 10. Teams carried out follow-up operations in Punjab and Haryana and 7kg of heroin and ₹50 lakh in cash was recovered during this follow-up process. The total value of this is ₹434 crore in the international market,” said a DRI official.

“In the last three months, multiple cases have also been booked, leading to seizure of more than 60kg heroin from air passengers,” a DRI official added.

Last year, the agency seized over 3,300kg of heroin.

This year, the major heroin seized include 34kg from a container at ICD Tughlakabad, 201kg from the Mundra port and 392kg of thread laced with heroin at Pipavav port.