A 43-year-old Kenyan woman was arrested in India for allegedly smuggling cocaine into the country by swallowing drug pellets.
The woman, whose identity has not yet been disclosed, was arrested at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on Sunday after landing from Nairobi she is currently in police custody in India
Acting on intelligence, officers from India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) tracked and apprehended her as she attempted to make her way through the airport with no visible signs of contraband, according to The Indian Express.
They serached her luggage and clothing and got no drugs, but during interrogation, she reportedly admitted to having ingested six pellets filled with narcotics. The DRI asked for court approval and admitted her to JJ Hospital for medical examination and drug extraction
Tests confirmed that the contents were cocaine, although the street value of the drugs was not immediately released, the contraband was found to be 665.5 grams of cocaine.
Investigations are ongoing, with Indian authorities trying to find out her local contacts and whether she belongs to a larger network of drug traffickers who use Kenya as a main transit route.
“It appears she was part of a wider smuggling network based in Kenya,” an Indian official familiar with the case told The Indian Express.
This is not the first such case. In April, another Kenyan woman also aged 43 was arrested at the same airport with 1.7 kilograms of cocaine hidden in her baggage. She was flying from Nairobi to Delhi via Doha.
Indian authorities say more African nationals are being used as drug couriers, with India serving as a destination or a stopover for international drug trafficking routes
