5.6kg of cocaine worth ₹56 cr seized; Nigerian national among four held

A joint operation of the Chennai Customs and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Monday led to the seizure of 5.6kg of cocaine worth ₹56 crore and subsequent arrest of four men in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi, including a Nigerian.

- SIDDHARTH PRABHAKAR @Chennai

The case was initially busted by Chennai Customs which apprehended two Indian men in their 20s who arrived from Addis Ababa—the capital of Ethiopia—by Ethiopian Airlines flight at Chennai on Monday. When their hand baggage was scanned, it revealed compactly-packed capsules suspected to be cocaine concealed inside Ferrero Rocher chocolate cans. In total, 5.618kg of capsules, suspected to be cocaine worth ₹56 crore were recovered from the two passengers, identified as Himanshu Shah (25) of Uttarakhand and Sahil Attri (26) of Himachal Pradesh, sources said.