Mumbai: The Mumbai Airport Customs officials have arrested a foreign national who had arrived from Uganda for allegedly smuggling cocaine worth Rs 8.66 crore.
According to the Customs sources, on spot profiling, one passenger, Patrick Ruhweza, 60, who had arrived at CSMI Airport, Mumbai from Uganda (Entebbe) on May 24, was intercepted on suspicion of carrying contraband into India.
The officers then conducted the X-Ray test of the pelvic region, which showed suspicious images inside his body. During interrogation, the passenger revealed that he had ingested around 80 capsules containing the narcotic substance.
He requested the officer to take him to the hospital to purge the capsules ingested by him, as he could not do it on his own. Accordingly, the officers took him to court for permission. The permission was granted on May 25, and he was accordingly taken to JJ Hospital.
Ruhweza stayed admitted in the hospital between May 25 and 28 and purged a total of 80 pellets weighing 866.000 grams containing cocaine, the sources said.
“Ruhweza has completed his mechanical engineering and is well-versed in the Swahili and English languages. He is a businessman dealing in textiles, earning around 1800000 Ugandan shillings monthly, equivalent to Rs 41,974 approximately,” the Customs source added.
On discussing his low economic condition with his friend Madam Brenda, she lured him with good money in drug smuggling by promising 1,200,000 Ugandan Shillings for smuggling Narcotic substances into the country. Madam Brenda gave money to him for all the expenses, including his to and fro tickets, hotel accommodation, etc, the source said.
“He is a repeat offender, and he has admittedly smuggled cocaine on an earlier occasion, also in January. At that time, he had smuggled 58 capsules containing cocaine similarly, and he had got 5 lakh Shillings for that act,” the source added.
