Mumbai Airport Customs seizes ₹17.89 crore worth of cocaine from a Kenyan woman’s trolley bag | File Photo
Mumbai: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Customs have arrested a Kenyan woman for allegedly smuggling cocaine worth Rs 17.89 crore. The accused was promised 1 lakh Shillings by her handler on successful delivery of consignment to a receiver in Delhi. The handler had also booked her hotel and flight tickets.
The AIU officers intercepted one female passenger Emily Kanini Rodha (43), a Kenyan national after she arrived at CSMI Airport, Mumbai from Nairobi to Doha then Doha to Mumbai on Tuesday. Based on spot profiling and her nervousness it appeared that she might be carrying some contraband on her person or in her luggage, officials said.
File Photo
“During the examination of trolley bag carried by her, the officers observed that it contain clothes and shoes. However, after removing all the contents of the said bag, the officers found the bag unusually heavy and on further examination it was found that some synthetic material was affixed on the bottom side. On removing the said material, 04 transparent plastic packets were found glued to the bottom surface of the said trolley bag. All packets contained white powdered substance which tested positive result for presence of Cocaine, a narcotic drug. We seized total 1789 grams of cocaine from the passenger,” said a Customs official.
In her statement given to the Customs officials, Emily Kanini Rodha stated that the said contraband was handed over to her by a lady named Millicent at Nairobi. “Rodha has admitted that she was aware of the contents of the bag and she had been promised 100000 Nairobi Shillings for doing this illegal act of smuggling of drugs into India. She also said that Millicent had booked her flight tickets for her travel from Nairobi to Mumbai and further from Mumbai to Doha/Nairobi and also booked hotel for her stay in Mumbai. She was to be given 100000 Shillings in Delhi for the successful delivery of the drugs to some accomplice of Millicent. Since she was in need of money, she accepted the offer of Millicent to earn some quick easy money,” the official said.
“An ingenious modus operandi is being adopted to smuggle contraband, narcotic and psychotropic substances into India by way of concealment in the trolley bag carried by the passenger so that the same escapes the attention of the authorities and attempt to smuggle such drugs in thereby successfully carried out. Investigation conducted so far has indicated that larger syndicate may involve in the smuggling of the Cocaine. The details of accomplices of the accused, are yet to be ascertained. Persistent efforts are on to get the details of these accomplices,” said the official.
