Chennai:

In a big seizure, the Narcotics Control Bureau in Chennai has recovered 1.8 kg of cocaine and 1.4 kg of MDMA (ecstasy), busting a pan-India network. The consignment, authorities said, is worth Rs 22 crore in the international market. 

A statement by NCB Chennai Zonal Director P Aravindhan said the cocaine was seized from a Bolivian woman passenger when she landed in Chennai on May 9. The drug was found “concealed inside her woollen jacket”. Further investigation led to the arrest of two women – an Indian and a Brazilian – in Mumbai and the recovery of an additional 15 gm of cocaine from the house of the accused.

As part of another joint operation with the Customs Department, the NCB intercepted a parcel from the Netherlands with 1.4 kg of MDMA. Investigators also tracked down and arrested two Nigerians, in Puducherry and Bengaluru, who they suspect were supposed to receive the contraband. 

In March, a film producer and former DMK functionary, Jaffer Sadiq, had been arrested after a four-month manhunt, for allegedly smuggling drugs worth over Rs 2,000 crore out of the country.  The DMK, which is the ruling party in Chennai, had expelled Sadiq and distanced itself from him.