DRI arrests man in Bengaluru carrying 16 kg of heroin worth ₹112 crore

The biggest seizure for the Bengaluru unit of DRI, this is the second such arrest this week — on Aug 3, an African national was arrested for smuggling ₹11 crore worth of cocaine

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials on Monday busted another international drug racket and arrested a 35-year-old man at the Bengaluru Railway Station and seized 16 kg of heroin worth ₹ 112 crore which he had allegedly concealed in a specially-designed cavity of the trolley bag he was carrying.

The accused, who hails from the Karnataka-Kerala border, had landed in Bengaluru airport by a morning flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and was on his way to New Delhi by train, when based on specific inputs, the DRI officials traced him at the KSR railway station and arrested him.

The accused, who had gone on a business visa to Addis Ababa for a week, was assigned the job by a gang to handover the trolley bag to a person soon after landing at Delhi railway station. The accused was also given a phone number to call this contact as soon as he got down. He was offered a huge sum of money for the job as well as the tickets. This is probably the biggest seizure for the Bengaluru unit of DRI has made so far, sources said.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the DRI officials, based on profiling and analysis, caught a 30-year-old African national and recovered ₹11 crore worth of cocaine in the form of capsules which he had consumed. He was made to undergo a medical procedure to recover the drugs.

The accused, according to the officials, had visited the city on a tourist visa from Addis Ababa. His handler told him to meet his contact in Delhi and hand over the consignment to him. The officials suspect that these men are part of an international gang working as carriers to supply the drugs to a syndicate operating in Delhi.