Heroin worth Rs 18 crore seized at Mumbai airport

MUMBAI: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Customs at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Terminal on Thursday arrested a Zambia national with 3.5kg of heroin worth Rs 18 crore.
The 40-year-old accused woman, Queency Chilutya Sakeli, has been booked under the NDPS Act and remanded to custody. Sakeli travelled from Zambia via Addis Ababa to Mumbai was arrested after a search of her baggage resulted in recovery of 3.6kg of heroin concealed in pouches. Sakeli is the fifth woman to be arrested by the AIU in the past one week with contraband.The contraband was to be delivered to her contact in Delhi.
Officials suspect that the heroin smuggled in these cases is meant for European countries using India as a transit route . They suspect that after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the smugglers are looking for other routes. The contraband would have been shipped by India concealed in containers declared to be carrying genuine goods. On Wednesday, the AIU had arrested Annie Kuchete and her accomplice Vaidya May, holding a passport of the Republic of Malawi ,who arrived from Doha with 5kg of heroin worth Rs 25 crore.