The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate has arrested a woman from Guyana along with cocaine worth Tk130 crore at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

The woman has been identified as Karen Pitula Stafli. She was detained at around 2am on Tuesday.

Deputy Director of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate Sonia Akter confirmed the matter on Tuesday.

She said: “Based on information that a woman was arriving in Bangladesh on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha carrying a large quantity of cocaine, we issued an alert at the airport. Later, when the woman completed on-arrival visa formalities and was crossing the green channel, we detained her and conducted a search.”

Sonia Akter said that during the search, three plastic jars were found. Inside the jars, 22 oval-shaped foil-wrapped packages of cocaine were recovered, which were confirmed in the preliminary test by the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC), airport unit.

The deputy director said that during the inventory process and preliminary tests, two sub-inspectors from the airport police station and members of other intelligence agencies were present. The seized cocaine weighed 8.66kg, with an estimated market value of around Tk130 crore.

She added that departmental proceedings are underway to file a case under the Penal Code and the Customs Act on charges of smuggling.