A 27-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly carrying amphetamine drug worth over Rs 23 lakh at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CASSIA) here, police said on Wednesday.
She was arrested on Tuesday in a joint operation carried out by the Anti Narcotics Cell of Mumbai police and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), police said.
“The woman, identified as Sheikh Furkana Khatoon, is a resident of suburban Kurla. She was on her way to a Gulf country on Tuesday evening when she was detained on suspicion by the immigration authorities at their counter,” an official said.
Subsequently, the NCB and the ANC of Mumbai police were informed about the woman passenger, an event manager by profession, he said.
“While checking her baggage with the help of sniffer dogs, 465 grams of amphetamine drug worth Rs 23.25 lakh was found concealed in her bags,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (ANC) Shivdeep Lande said.
Officials of Kandivali unit of the ANC arrested Furkana and interrogated her, he said.
“During the probe, it came to light that she was roped in as a courier by an international drug syndicate. We are investigating whether the woman had travelled to any Gulf country to transport narcotic drugs in the past as well,” he said.
According to the official, an offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered against her.
She was produced before the court, which remanded her in police custody till September 24, Lande said.
