India, June 2 -- In January 2025, a routine tipoff about an attempt to smuggle high-end narcotics from Mumbai to Australia via air uncovered the rise of a new international cocaine-trafficking syndicate. A package containing 200gm of high-grade cocaine of South-American origin was found concealed inside a projector to be loaded into the cargo hold of an Australia-bound flight.

The seizure, by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)'s Mumbai unit, set off alarm bells. While the India-Australia route was already known as a conduit for synthetic drugs, it was the first time the NCB found it being used for a cocaine run.

Investigations led to the arrest of a certain Jayakrishna Gopakumar in Navi Mumbai, from whom the NCB seized a medley of drugs...