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09-Dec-2010
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This time the drug was being sent by Nwuchukwu to Australia, Canada and Indonesia. According to officials, the value of the drugs would be in the range of Rs 4 to Rs 5 crore on the international market.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, R Sekar, commissioner of customs, Pune, said that one courier service had tipped off officials of the Narcotics cell, who then verified that the substance was cocaine.
According to him, the consignment heading for Canada had cocaine packed in small pouches kept beneath the plastic casing of measuring tapes. In the Australian consignment the drug was concealed between two layers of paper lanterns. "We recovered 375 gm of cocaine from these two consignments," Sekar said.
The third consignment, to Indonesia, had 495 gm of cocaine concealed in the statue of an elephant, he said.
Sekar said that when officials checked the address given by Nwuchukwu to the courier agency, it was found to be fake. "We laid a trap with the help of the courier agency people. We phoned up the foreign national and asked him to return to Pune to complete some formalities. On October 9, when he came to Pune, we laid a trap and arrested him. We have recovered the receipts of the courier agency from him," Sekar said. Nwuchukwu will be in the custody of the customs till October 15.
According to him, Nwuchukwu had been staying in New Delhi since August 2009. "He would come to Pune by train in the morning and, after booking the consignments, would leave the city in the evening." Customs officials suspect that he could be part of bigger gang operating from New Delhi. "He claims that he got the parcel in New Delhi and was asked to courier it from the safe place. He must have chosen Pune as a safe place, because of the large number of foreign students here," Sekar said.
Customs officials say this is the first time they have seized drugs that have not been manufactured in India. "We are working with the other agencies in our investigations," Sekar said.
The investigating team comprises assistant commissioner of Customs S B Shinde, superintendents Dinesh More, B R Samad, Y D Kenzar, inspectors Satish Kulkarni and Sunil Kumar Punnose.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, R Sekar, commissioner of customs, Pune, said that one courier service had tipped off officials of the Narcotics cell, who then verified that the substance was cocaine.
According to him, the consignment heading for Canada had cocaine packed in small pouches kept beneath the plastic casing of measuring tapes. In the Australian consignment the drug was concealed between two layers of paper lanterns. "We recovered 375 gm of cocaine from these two consignments," Sekar said.
The third consignment, to Indonesia, had 495 gm of cocaine concealed in the statue of an elephant, he said.
Sekar said that when officials checked the address given by Nwuchukwu to the courier agency, it was found to be fake. "We laid a trap with the help of the courier agency people. We phoned up the foreign national and asked him to return to Pune to complete some formalities. On October 9, when he came to Pune, we laid a trap and arrested him. We have recovered the receipts of the courier agency from him," Sekar said. Nwuchukwu will be in the custody of the customs till October 15.
According to him, Nwuchukwu had been staying in New Delhi since August 2009. "He would come to Pune by train in the morning and, after booking the consignments, would leave the city in the evening." Customs officials suspect that he could be part of bigger gang operating from New Delhi. "He claims that he got the parcel in New Delhi and was asked to courier it from the safe place. He must have chosen Pune as a safe place, because of the large number of foreign students here," Sekar said.
Customs officials say this is the first time they have seized drugs that have not been manufactured in India. "We are working with the other agencies in our investigations," Sekar said.
The investigating team comprises assistant commissioner of Customs S B Shinde, superintendents Dinesh More, B R Samad, Y D Kenzar, inspectors Satish Kulkarni and Sunil Kumar Punnose.