Two African nationals, including a woman, have been apprehended for allegedly smuggling narcotics worth Rs 60 lakh from the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here.
The duo, identified as Dzvetero Mtegwe Mcvee (34) and Macamo Paulo Azarias (27), were arrested by a CISF squad as they were flying to Addis Ababa late yesterday night.
While Mcvee is from Zimbabwe, Azarias is a Mozambique national.
Central Industrial Security Force said Mcvee was intercepted at Terminal-3 of the airport when her activities were found suspect and she was then subjected to frisking.
Small packets containing drugs were recovered from her which she had allegedly concealed in her knee and elbow pads. The white powder was later detected to be Pseudoephedrine, a banned narcotic drug used commonly by youngsters.
In the meantime, Mcvee's associate Azarias, who had already boarded the flight, got anxious as he could not see her and decided to abandon the aircraft.
Another CISF team, which was keeping a vigil on the aircraft, sensed the anxiety of Azarias and nabbed him after which he and his baggage were sent for another round of screening. His baggage too contained about 30kgs of the same drug kept in the cavities of the bag, a senior official said.
The total seizure from the duo is about 60 kgs which has an estimated value of Rs 60 lakh in the open market, the official said.
Both the African nationals were handed over to anti-narcotics sleuths.
