The woman from Ghana had sealed cocaine packets to the bottom of five pairs of shoes (Photo | Express)
CHENNAI: A 46-year-old woman from Ghana was arrested by Customs officials at Chennai airport on Wednesday for allegedly smuggling 2.1 kg of cocaine by concealing it in six pairs of shoes and her check-in baggage. She had arrived on a flight from Port Harcourt in Nigeria via Doha in Qatar.
Sources said that during interrogation, the accused, Mary Abla Awagah, said that she was handed over the bags and shoes containing the contraband by her husband who directed her to give it to a receiver in a prominent hotel in Chennai. She was allegedly told that the receiver would also bear the expenses she incurred for the trip.
The street value of the seized cocaine volume is estimated to be Rs 21 crore, sources said. Videos shared by the sleuths revealed that the packets containing cocaine were pasted to the bottom of her shoes using a superior sticking fluid.
Officials had to use blades to rip the shoes open to get the contraband which was stored and sealed in more than 10 packets. Cocaine was also found concealed in the footwear that she was wearing as well as in two other bags, sources said.
She had travelled multiple times to India and claimed to be a fashion designer who bought clothes from India for sale in Ghana and Nigeria. Customs will probe if she had smuggled cocaine to India during her previous visits too, sources said.
The Customs and DRI have busted a series of cocaine smuggling attempts at the Chennai airport in recent times. On June 10, an Indonesian native was arrested at the airport for bringing 3.3 kg of high-grade cocaine worth `30 crore from Thailand.
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