Cocaine smuggling syndicate busted at Chennai airport: Drugs worth ₹60 crore seized; 4, including Nigerian, arrested

The NCB on September 1 conducted a joint operation with the Air Intelligence Unit, Chennai Custom, and intercepted two Indian male passengers who arrived from Addis Ababa by Ethiopian Airlines at the Chennai International Airport.

In total, the NCB arrested four persons involved in the crime.

One arrested aged 25 hails from Bageshwar, Uttarakhand, while the other passenger aged 26 resides in Chamba, Himachal Pradesh.

Scanning and examination of their hand baggage revealed compactly packed capsules suspected to contain cocaine concealed inside chocolate cans, Joint Commissioner of Customs (Chennai Airport), Sadeesh Kumar K said in an official release adding the duo were intercepted based on spot profiling.

Investigation has further disclosed involvement of a person of Indian origin in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia who arranges the supply of cocaine and distribution of the profits among the syndicate members.

The NCB in a separate press release said that the street value of the seized contraband, which is high a grade cocaine, is estimated to be at least ₹60 crore in India.

“It has been ascertained that these persons have made multiple trips from Addis Ababa to various airports in India for trafficking cocaine in the past few years,” the NCB said.

Cocaine is sold in retail in one-gram sachets, and one-gram sachets cost anywhere between ₹8,000 and ₹12,000, depending on the level of adulteration in the cocaine.

Nigerian national detained, visa overstay in question

The NCB informed that preliminary investigation has also revealed that the arrested Indians are part of a larger transnational drug syndicate. The alleged syndicate is involved in trafficking cocaine from Ethiopia to India.

The trafficked cocaine is distributed in other parts of India from Delhi, where a Nigerian national handles the distribution network.

Upon further investigation, it was revealed that this person was in India on a medical visa, which had already expired in 2023 and had been overstaying his visa since 2024.

“Even though the Nigerian national had come to India for Medical VISA for self treatment at Gleneagles HealthCity, Perumbakkam, Chennai and was overstaying, he was involving in drug trafficking and setting up a distribution channel of cocaine from Delhi,” the NCB said.

Further investigation is underway to identify and apprehend all members of the cocaine syndicate and ascertain the financial trail, the drug control agency said.