Cocaine concealed in eye-shadow boxes puts mother-daughter behind bars
A 46-year-old woman and her daughter were arrested from separate places for smuggling 360gms of cocaine from Trinidad and Tobago via the Indian postal system. While the mother was arrested from Nagpur while receiving the parcel, the daughter was arrested from Goa, the consignment's destination. NCB Mumbai officials said the pure quality cocaine was worth Rs. 1.5cr and was concealed in eye-shadow palette boxes.
Mother was roped in to divert investigators' glare
The NCB officials said the 25-year-old daughter is the linchpin of this operation. She's married to a foreign national and together they run this 'business' in Goa, where they mix impurities to increase the volume of the cocaine and sell it to prospective buyers in the tourist-heavy state. They made her mother receive the parcel in Nagpur to avoid investigators' glare.
NCB officials suspect involvement of local Goans and international dealers
NCB officials suspect that with cocaine being such an expensive drug, with a kilo costing around Rs. 5-6cr, the seized 360gm was just a part of a larger consignment. International links and involvement of other persons are being probed. Almost a month ago, NCB Delhi officials seized a whopping 2.65kg of liquid cocaine that was filled in condoms and packed in tin containers.
Popularity of party drugs in India has increased manifold
According to government data, use of synthetic party drugs have increased manifold in the last five years in India. However, use of conventional substances like cocaine, heroin, and hashish have remained static or decreased. Marijuana remains the most seized drug in India, according to 2016 NCB data. Cocaine seizure went down from 44kg in 2012 to 28kg in 2016.
