Sleuths attached to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized about 5 kg of heroin from a Zambian woman who arrived from Qatar at the Calicut International Airport on Wednesday.
Officials said that Bishala Soko, 31, was intercepted by officials after she reached the airport by a Qatar Airways flight. She had hidden the heroin valued at ₹30 crore in her check-in baggage.
They said that Soko, who has a valid Indian visa, had reached Doha from Cape Town, South Africa.
She informed the investigators that she had received the package from a person in Cape Town to be delivered to an agent in Kozhikode. She was intercepted based on an intelligence input, DRI sources said.
Remanded
Soko was charged under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. She was produced in court and remanded in judicial custody. Further investigations were on, officials said.
The seizure comes close on the heels of the seizure of approximately 3,000 kg of Afghan heroin from two containers at Mundra port in Gujarat last week. The DRI had arrested five persons, including two Afghan nationals, in connection with the incident.
Taliban link
Officials suspect a possible Taliban-Pakistan link in the smuggling of high-quality heroin to India.
In August, the DRI had arrested an African native with cocaine capsules at the Kempegowda Airport in Bengaluru. He too had arrived via West Asia. Also, three cases were booked at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad. In July, a Zambian national was also arrested at the airport.
The DRI officials suspect that heroin consignments caught at Indian airports had a Taliban link. African drug cartels were carrying out the operation though Taliban is the source of heroin.
