TNN
 
Bangalore, Sep 26: Just two months after the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) unearthed a heroin-smuggling racket in which drug carriers tried to sneak through Bengaluru International Airport (BIA), yet another huge consignment has landed in its net.

A Vietnamese student, Nuyoung Thi (24), was caught at BIA on Wednesday night while carrying 4.28 kg of heroin worth Rs 14 crore in the international market.

While 900 gms of the drug was concealed in her shoes, the rest was hidden in the neatly stitched false bottom of her suitcase.

Nuyoung Thi told customs officials she met some businessmen in Delhi who promised to sponsor her trip and pay her Rs 50,000 to carry the consignment to Bangkok.

The seizure is similar to the one in July, when DRI sleuths recovered heroin worth over Rs 10 crore from Khaektet Thitaree (23), a student from Thailand, and Mwinshehe Shabani Selemani (36) from Tanzania, and arrested them.

In both cases, the passengers departed from Delhi and landed in Bangalore. They boarded a Thai Airways flight after clearing all formalities, including collection of boarding passes. Their luggage passed through security clearance but was recalled for another check.

Officials said Nuyoung spilled the beans and named a Nigerian national who handed her the consignment. They are not sure of the origin of the consignment, but suspect the pure form of heroin came from Afghanistan.

The role of Nigerian nationals indicates the handiwork of an organized international drug cartel that is very active in India.