Heroin worth Rs 60 crore seized at Ahmedabad airport

 A team of the directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) apprehended two Kenyan nationals at the city airport with 8.5kg of heroin early on Thursday morning. Officials said the seizure is worth about Rs 60 crore in the international market.

This was the third major heroin seizure by the agency at the city's international airport in the past 10 days, as over 10kg of drugs, worth Rs 70 crore, has been seized.

"Based on specific intelligence, a team was deployed at the airport. The two passengers  a man and a woman matching the intelligence inputs were detained for further investigation. On examining their baggage, an empty bag was found to be heavy. There were cavities made in its seams, where eight plastic packages containing granules and powder were concealed," said an official.

An FSL team was brought to the spot with a field drug identification kit, and the contraband was confirmed to be heroin. Officials said both passengers have been arrested under the NDPS Act, 1985. This is one of the largest drug seizures at the airport, said DRI officials.

"The modus operandi adopted by the said syndicate is that these passengers came to visit India on the pretext of medical visits on the basis of fabricated letters shown as issued by hospitals," said the official.

DRI recently uncovered the modus operandi of Uganda-based syndicates, where Ugandan nationals were sent with drugs packaged in small capsules inserted in body cavities.

Sources close to the development said that international syndicates are under the lens for their possible involvement in the racket.