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23 Smuggling in India Report 2024-25

TraĜcking Trends and Cases

a. Cocaine

Cocaine trafficking remains a significant global issue, with South America as the
primary source region. The majority of cocaine seizures made by DRI in the past
year involved trafficking through air routes, predominantly carried out by nation-
als from African countries. Traffickers employ various methods of concealment,
including hiding the drug in baggage, garments, eatables such as chocolates and,
most notably through body concealment, especially by ingesting cocaine in cap-
sule form. Among these methods, body concealment has proven to be the most
prevalent and poses considerable challenges for law enforcement due to its diffi-
culty in identification.

DRI has also observed an emerging trend of cocaine being smuggled in liquid
form. In this modus operandi, cocaine is dissolved in substances like flavoured
drinks, oils, shampoos, or other liquids to disguise its presence and evade detec-
tion. Once smuggled, the liquid is processed to extract cocaine in its solid form for
sale. This method makes detection difficult with conventional scanning or field
tests, posing a new challenge for enforcement agencies. Further, it is also observed
that female foreign nationals are more often employed as carriers in the trafficking
of cocaine compared to males.

In total, DRI has effected 38 seizures of cocaine during FY 2024–25, resulting in
the recovery of approximately 66.42 kg of cocaine. There is a growing shift
towards transporting smaller drug consignments via body concealment.

160
140 142.74
120
100 101.34
80
66.42
60
46
38
40
17
20
0
2022-23 2023-24 2024-25
No. of Seizures Quantity (in Kg)

Figure 7: Seizure of cocaine in last 3 years

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