Chennai: South African woman arrested, over 1 kg cocaine seized

Chennai: More than one kg of cocaine, worth Rs 5 crore, was seized and a South African woman, who had swallowed capsules containing the contraband, arrested at the airport here, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said today.

The woman -- Princess Ntombifuthi Msomi (47) – arrived here yesterday from Sao Paulo in Brazil via Abu Dhabi, the NCB said.

"She came on a tourist visa and was planning to leave the country after delivering the consignment of cocaine," an NCB press release said.

It said based on specific information, NCB sleuths intercepted the woman at the international airport yesterday and seized 1.075 kg of cocaine from her possession.

The seized cocaine was concealed in "82 capsules" which the woman had swallowed, the release added.

Stating that this modus operandi was followed by "experts" who could swallow "around 200 capsules", the NCB said they could also keep them concealed in their stomach "up to 48 hours".

The seized contraband was worth around Rs 5 crore in the local illegal market, it was of a very pure form and was sourced directly from the cocaine production belt in South America, it added.

The woman was believed to be working at the behest of the South American Cocaine cartel and a probe was on to unearth her links in Chennai, the NCB said.