Hyderabad:
As many as 51 pellets of cocaine worth Rs 42 lakh were recovered from the stomach of a 32-year-old South African woman who had arrived at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad on Sunday from Dubai.
After the body scan revealed that she had concealed something in the stomach, she had been sent to the government hospital. The woman was subsequently arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on the charge of attempting to smuggle cocaine, an official said.
She had claimed to be pregnant when the NCB officials intercepted her at the airport.
"A total of 51 pellets or capsules have been extracted since yesterday from the woman's body. A fresh scan was conducted today and no more pellets were found," Osmania General Hospital's resident medical officer Dr Vijay Kumar Yadav told PTI, adding that her condition was now stable.
A senior NCB officer said each pellet contained around 10 grams of cocaine. Market value of one gram of the contraband is around Rs 7,000; about 600 grams was recovered from her.
The woman would swallow the pellets and claim during the airport checks that she was pregnant. The officer said NCB had come across this modus operandi of smuggling drugs for the first time in Hyderabad.
She would be taken into custody for further interrogation once she is discharged from the hospital to find out about the source and destination of the cocaine, he said.