Togolese woman caught with drugs worth Rs 2 cr at Kochi airport

Togolese woman held with four kg Methaqualone at Cochin airport. Representational Pic

Security teams at Cochin International Airport have stopped a major drug smuggling attempt and arrested a foreign national, officials said here on Tuesday.

They said around 6 pm on Monday, alert screeners at the Domestic Terminal noticed something wrong with a suitcase belonging to a woman from Togo. The passenger had just arrived from Doha and was planning to fly to Delhi on an Air India flight.

When officers took her bag to a separate area for a physical check, they discovered a secret "false bottom" hidden under the lining of the suitcase.
Tucked away inside this hidden space were two packets of a banned drug called Methaqualone. The drugs weighed nearly 4 kg and are estimated to be worth about Rs 2 crore.

Following the discovery, airport officials immediately handed the woman and the seized packets over to the Customs department.
A formal case has been registered against her, and she remained in Customs custody overnight.

The Togolese national is scheduled to be presented in court on Tuesday, as officials investigate whether she is part of a larger smuggling network.

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