In one of biggest of hauls of cocaine in South India, the officers of Narcotics Control Bureau, Chennai unit, seized 3.69 kg of cocaine from a Brazilian national who was staying at a hotel near the Chennai International Airport.
Acting on a tip-off, Based on a specific information, the officers on Friday searched a room at K.E.K Hotel, Pallavaram where Jailson Manoel Da Silva (43) was staying. They searched his baggage and recovered the contraband. He started his journey with the consignment from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro and to Chennai via Dubai. Although the suspect had a valid tourist visa from August 2016 to February 2017, he was planning to leave the country on September 24 after delivering the consignment to an unknown person in Chennai.
An officer of NCB said, “He is only the carrier whose job is to deliver the consignment to the person here based on the instructions of the drug cartel on the other side. We are interrogating him to find out who the recipient of the consignment is.”
The cocained was stuffed inside four notebooks while seven packets were concealed in children’s books.
NCB Zonal Director Prem Anand Sinha said, “The seized contraband, worth around Rs.10 crore in local illegal market is one of the largest cocaine seizures made in the region. The cocaine is pure and seem to have been sourced directly from the cocaine production belt in South America.”
The officer said although the seizure was made in the city, the substance is believed to have been meant for distribution across metro cities in various States. Therefore, this seizure along with four other cocaine seizures made earlier by the NCB, Chennai dealt a severe blow to the drug cartel operating in the southern States. Further investigation is on to trace his links in Chennai, added Mr. Sinha.
He was planning to leave India on September 24 after delivering the consignment
