NEW DEHLI - A Zimbabwean woman was on Thursday arrested by Indian authorities at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport while trying to smuggle narcotics.

Lydia Ndari Murwira becomes the third Zimbabwean national to be apprehended at the same airport for drug trafficking in just two weeks.

The 40-year-old was intercepted by customs officials as she was about to board a plane to Harare, authorities said.

Acting on intelligence, agents pulled Murwira from the boarding line and found stashes of ephedrine powder weighing almost 10 kilogrammes in her luggage.

“The Zimbabwean national was carrying some prohibited psychotropic substances,” customs commissioner Neeta Lall Butalia told the press.

“We intercepted the passenger near the immigration counter of departure hall and interrogated her.”

Ephedrine is a controlled substance under India’s Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. It is an anti-depressant commonly abused as a party drug.

“The recovered substance in the form of powder weighed 9,90 kgs (gross weight including packing/wrappers) and its value in the international market is Rs. 1.50 crore,” an official release said.

A fortnight ago, two other Zimbabwean nationals, Mike Karimazondo, 35, and Ellah Ncube, 45, were arrested at the same airport for trying to traffic pseudoephedrine and methaqualone.

The two were in the company of a South African citizen Shila Khumalo, 41, and travelling to Johannesburg through Abu Dhabi.

On Christmas day a Zambian national was arrested at the same airport for trying to smuggle 41,5 kgs of ephedrine. — New Zimbabwe