Man held at Bengaluru airport for carrying cocaine worth ₹40 crore

Acting on a specific tip-off, officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence on Saturday arrested a man at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, and recovered 4 kg of cocaine worth ₹40 crore.

The man is suspected to be a mule and was held as soon as he arrived from Doha at the city airport in the early hours of Friday.

Officers found superhero comics and magazines from his luggage, which seemed unusually heavy. On careful examination, a white powder concealed inside the magazines was recovered.

The powder tested positive for cocaine. The recovered cocaine, weighing 4,006 grams (over 4 kg), and having an international market value of around ₹40 crore was seized under the provisions of the NDPS Act, 1985.

The man was subsequently arrested under the same Act, and was remanded to judicial custody, an official release said.