Three people arrested in cocaine case

Mumbai, June 14 (UNI) Three persons were arrested by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with the seizure of 200 kg cocaine valued at Rs five billion in the international market from a ship at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).

A top NCB official source confirmed that three persons were arrested last night in the case and were produced before the metropolitan court today, which remanded them to police custody for 14 days.

The huge drug haul, one of the biggest-ever in India, was made from a freight ship that arrived at the Mumbai port from Hong Kong.

''The cocaine was kept in bags stacked inside a legal consignment of timber,'' NCB sources said and added, ''the cocaine seizure from JNPT here was the biggest in Asia and dispatchers of the drug could be testing India as a transit route.'' On a specific information, Merchant vessel M V Voyager was intercepted when it entered Indian waters on June 2 and NCB officials searched the vessel.

''There were 16 suspect containers, all of which were segregated at JNPT and scanned through X-ray machines, leading to the seizure of cocaine in one of themm,'' sources added.

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