Brazilian held at IGI airport for smuggling cocaine
New Delhi: A Brazilian man has been arrested from IGI airport for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country Rs 3 crore worth of cocaine, which he had swallowed in the form of 64 capsules, a statement issued by the customs department on Sunday stated. The passenger was intercepted after his arrival from Sao Paulo via Addis Ababa on August 27, it said. According to the statement, the man had swallowed 64 capsules containing 620 grams of white coloured powder which preliminary narcotics testing has revealed to be cocaine worth around Rs 3.1 crore. The passenger has been arrested and the narcotic seized. It was the second significant narcotics seizure (in the form of capsules swallowed by passengers) effected by customs officials at Delhi international airport. About 1.7 kg of cocaine, worth nearly Rs 10 crore was seized by the customs officials from two foreign passengers — Bolivian and a Kenyan — on August 24. The duo had swallowed about 145 capsules of cocaine, which were extracted at a city-based hospital. In the hospital, 89 capsules weighing 890 gram, which tested positive for cocaine, were extracted from the Bolivian national. Similarly, 56 capsules, containing 842 gram of cocaine, were extracted from the Kenyan national. In total, 1.7 kg of cocaine was recovered from them. The foreigners were arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. (PTI)
Heavy rains claim 16 lives in Uttar Pradesh
Lucknow: At least 16 people were dead and 12 injured due to heavy rainfall and lightning in Uttar Pradesh in the last 24 hours. According to the data released by the government, six people were dead in Shahjahanpur while three lost their lives in Sitapur district. The torrential rains claimed four lives in Amethi and Auraiya districts also. As many as 461 houses were damaged and 18 animals harmed due to lightning. Apart from Uttar Pradesh, the adjacent states of Delhi, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh too experienced heavy rainfall. (ANI)
Four naxals killed encounter in Chhattisgarh: Police
Raipur: Four naxals, including a woman, were killed on Sunday in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district, around 350 kilometers from here, police said. The gunfight took place at around 2:30 pm in the Gumiyabeda village forest when a team of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) was out on an anti-Maoist operation, Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Jitendra Shukla told PTI. The ultras fled the spot and entered the dense forest after a brief exchange of fire, he said. The bodies of four naxals and weapons were found at the spot, the SP said. The combing operation is underway in the area, he added. (PTI)
Pharma factory owner among 6 arrested in drug haul case
Phagwara: Six people including the owner of a pharmaceutical factory were arrested after a massive haul of drugs was seized from the unit during a raid, police said on Sunday. Mandip Singh, the factory owner was booked along with his five employees under various provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Pyschotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, they said. Located on Phagwara-Banga road, the factory was sealed following the Saturday night raid which was carried out after the police received a tip-off, they said. Kapurthala Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Satinder Singh said as many as 3,66,780 intoxicant tablets and 16.6 kg of intoxicant powder used for making the tablets were seized from the factory, said the SSP. (PTI)
Five die of asphyxiation inside septic tank in Odisha
Koraput: Five people, including a woman, died of asphyxiation and another fell unconscious Sunday after entering an under-construction septic tank at a village in Odisha’s Rayagada district, police said. Tragedy struck Durgi village in Rayagada when the woman worker, who had entered the tank, was trapped inside and all five men ventured into it one by one in a vain bid to rescue her, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Y Jagannath Rao said. “All five of them died of suffocation inside the tank. Local residents were able to pull them out only after removing a few concrete slabs on the septic tank,” Rao said. The six victims were rushed to a hospital in the Bissamcuttack area of the district, the ASP said. “While five of them were declared dead, the sixth person is undergoing treatment and his condition is stated to be serious,” Rao said. (PTI)
24 trafficked children from Jharkhand traced
Jamshedpur: Altogether 24 of the 34 tribal children allegedly trafficked from Jharkhand to an illegal shelter home in Punjab were traced and two persons were arrested, police said on Sunday. “We have rescued four children who were reportedly pursuing their studies in the three-room shelter home in Ludhiana and arrested two persons, including the owner of the home,” Superintendent of Police, West Singhbhum, G Kranthi Kumar said. As the home authorities claimed that they had sent back 30 children, physical verification of 20 of them was made in West Singhbhum district, while search is on for the remaining ten, Kumar said. (PTI)
Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa to visit Myanmar, Malaysia
New Delhi: Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa will be on a six-day visit to Myanmar and Malaysia from Monday with an aim to bolster India’s defence cooperation with the two countries considered strategically important from the regional security perspective. The Chief of Air Staff’s first destination will be Myanmar where he will hold extensive talks with the top brass of the military establishment of that country on ways to deepen the bilateral defence engagement, officials said. From Myanmar, he will travel to Malaysia for a three-day visit beginning September 5, they said. In Malaysia, Air Chief Marshall Dhanoa will hold parleys with his Malaysian counterpart and other senior military officials on ways to strengthen cooperation between the air forces of the two countries. The visit will be beneficial for enhancing the strong camaraderie and partnership that the nations and their air forces share, IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Anupam Banerjee said. (PTI)