Man remanded after smuggling drugs worth Rs 44 cr through Karipur airport

KONDOTTY: Rajiv Kumar, a native of UP Muzaffarnagar, who smuggled drugs worth Rs 44 crore through Karipur airport, was remanded by Manjeri Magistrate Court. He landed in Karipur on Tuesday in an Air Arabia flight via Sharjah with three and a half kilos of cocaine and 1.29 kilos of heroin from Africa.

Cocaine and heroin were hidden in his shoes, purse and bag. The arrested was made following a tip-off received by the DRI team. At the same time, the accused gave a statement to the DRI that he is innocent and that he did not know about the presence of drugs in the bag. According to the statement, he was told that a man would come outside the airport and that he would have to hand over this bag to him. He was only given a flight ticket for this. The accused told the investigation team that he had gone to Africa two weeks ago for job, but did not get one. But the DRI officials haven't given much value to this statement. Investigation is also being conducted on those who came to buy drugs from him.