(Hyderabad, India) – A Ugandan woman was sentenced to 13 years of rigorous imprisonment for drug smuggling after being caught with heroin at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in 2021. The court also imposed a fine of ₹100,000 (approximately $1,200 or 4.5 million Ugandan shillings) and a further three months of simple imprisonment if the fine is not paid.
The woman was intercepted by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on June 5, 2021, when she returned to the airport to retrieve a missed check-in bag from a previous flight that had arrived from Harare. Upon examination, authorities discovered 3,900 grams of heroin, valued at ₹25.35 crore (about $3.1 million or 11.6 billion Ugandan shillings), hidden within her luggage.
She was arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and after an investigation, a complaint was filed in the Ranga Reddy district court. The court found that the prosecution had proven her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, convicting her under Section 23(c) of the NDPS Act, which deals with the possession and trafficking of narcotics.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered the woman to pay a fine. If the fine remains unpaid, she faces an additional three months in simple imprisonment.
The case is part of a broader effort by the DRI to combat drug trafficking at the airport. In a separate incident, the DRI also intercepted two Indian nationals coming from Bangkok, who were found to be carrying 7.096 kg of marijuana hidden in vacuum-sealed packets inside boxes of Kellogg’s cornflakes and cookies. The marijuana was valued at ₹15.79 lakh (about $18,900 or 70 million Ugandan shillings), and the passengers were arrested under the same NDPS Act.
Furthermore, the Customs Department at Hyderabad Airport recently destroyed 216.69 kg of narcotics and psychotropic substances, valued at ₹468.02 crore (about $56 million or 210 billion Ugandan shillings), which had been seized from various international passengers, including those from Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, and India.
