The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Bengaluru on Thursday arrested a woman who was trying to smuggle cocaine and ketamine by hiding the substances in packets of noodles kept in her handbag.
Authorities said that she was travelling from Mumbai to Bengaluru with the drugs. The accused was identified as a 35-year-old Darjeeling native, who had been residing in Bengaluru. She was nabbed on August 1.
“She was travelling in a semi-sleeper bus. She was apprehended while alighting from the bus and was found to be in possession of 200 grams of cocaine and 100 grams of ketamine. She was arrested for conscious possession and trafficking of drugs,” the NCB said in a press note.
Officials said that they suspected the noodles in her bag, as it seemed like the packet had been opened and resealed. As they reopened the packet and checked it, they found the drugs concealed inside.
The NCB said that cocaine was a high-end drug and a stimulant, with short-term effects like anxiety, paranoia, contracted blood vessels and bizarre and erratic behaviour, while the long-term effects included permanent damage to the heart, brain, liver, kidney besides psychosis and severe depression.
Ketamine on the other hand, is a highly addictive and popular club drug that leaves the user in a dissociative state with side effects like hallucinations, nervousness, nightmares, double vision and even near-death experiences, the NCB said.
Officials tested both the samples of both the drugs which were seized and confirmed the same.
“Drug trafficking is punishable with up to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and in certain cases, up to death,” Sunil Kumar Sinha, Zonal Director NCB, said in the press note.
In May this year, airport authorities in Mangaluru managed to stave off a unique method of smuggling marijuana when a Doha-bound passenger was allegedly caught concealing 10 kilograms of marijuana within pumpkins in his luggage.
It was later revealed that the pumpkins had been neatly cut open and that the drugs were stuffed into them after removing the pulp of the fruit.