DRI Seizes 7.1 Kg Amphetamine and 3.1 Kg Cocaine, Three Held

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the anti-smuggling agency under the Ministry of Finance, has reported three intelligence-led operations against narcotics couriers. Together they yielded roughly 7.1 kg of amphetamine in two cases and about 3.1 kg of cocaine in a third, and three persons were arrested. The interceptions took place at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, on a road near Nagpur, and at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.

Bengaluru: 5.166 kg amphetamine

Acting on precise information, officers stopped a passenger who reached the Bengaluru airport from Delhi on 14 October 2026. His baggage was opened and examined, and 5.166 kg of amphetamine came out of it. The drug was seized under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985, usually called the NDPS Act, and the traveller was placed under arrest.

Near Nagpur: a backpack with a false lining

Two days later a man travelling by bus from Delhi towards Hyderabad was intercepted near Khapa Phata at Saoner, on the outskirts of Nagpur. A white crystalline substance had been tucked inside a new ladies' suit in his backpack. The bag felt heavier than it looked, so the officers went through its inner lining as well and found a second packet hidden there. Field tests showed the substance to be amphetamine, and 1.97 kg of it was seized under the same Act.

Delhi: cocaine from Ghana

In the third operation, on the night of 15 and 16 October 2026, a passenger who had landed at Terminal 3 of the Delhi airport from Ghana was checked. Six transparent packets of white powder weighing 3.134 kg in all were taken out of his baggage. Field testing identified the powder as cocaine, the consignment was seized under the NDPS Act and the passenger was arrested.

The three cases side by side

Why the agency matters for exams

The DRI is the country's lead intelligence and investigation agency on smuggling, and these cases show its two usual lines of work: passenger baggage at international airports and consignments moving along road routes inside the country. Note the law invoked, which is the NDPS Act of 1985 for narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, as against the Customs Act used in gold smuggling cases.