AHMEDABAD: The narcotics control bureau (NCB), which is investigating a case of cocaine smuggling by a South African national, said a certain South African drug cartel has become active in India and they use people of Indian origin who use their Indian surnames to smuggle drugs into the country, as agencies would be less likely to see them as suspects.
“The case of Derick Pillay, who was caught with 4.2kg of cocaine worth Rs 20 crore at city airport, is a fresh example of the handiwork of this South African drug cartel, who have started using people of Indian origin for narcotics smuggling,” said an officer of NCB.
Pillay lived in Johannesburg and when he landed here, he was wearing a T-shirt with a print of the tricolour and Mahatma Gandhi on it. He was supposed to go to Delhi to watch the Independence Day celebrations.
The officer said Pillay had been visiting India for about four years and had been used to carry out recces by the drug mafia.
“He was never a carrier. He had come earlier and to identify security loopholes at various Indian airports. After he gave the green signal, the carrier would land in India with the drug consignment,” said the officer.
On August 14, Pillay was nabbed from Sardar Vallabbhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport by NCB officers, who recovered cocaine worth Rs 20 crore from him. The drug was concealed inside a protein supplement packet.
NCB officers had known that earlier people of African origin were used to smuggle the drugs. “As the African cartel got more notorious, their modus operandi became known and the security agencies and cops would keep a close watch on them and nab them on their arrival. After that, they started hiring people of Indian origin to smuggle the drugs as they would be less likely to be seen as suspects,” he said.
These carriers usually make journeys with connecting flights and land at smaller cities in India, from where they are instructed by their bosses to travel further accordingly.
“An area of concern is that these drug smugglers have begun sending major consignments to the national capital region, which has been seeing higher levels of drug supply than Goa, Mumbai or Bengaluru, which were earlier more notorious for drugs,” said an NCB officer.
