Indian police in Kozhikode City have arrested eight more Nigerians for allegedly trafficking drugs.
This comes after the arrest of seven Nigerians earlier reported by PUNCH Metro on Wednesday, as part of a nationwide crackdown on both foreign and local drug dealers.
According to a Thursday report by The Hindu, the eight suspects allegedly played “key roles” in a bigger drug syndicate said to be operating across India.
Working with a state-level squad, the Kozhikode police uncovered a synthetic drug production unit in Gurugram, Haryana, with the help of police teams from Delhi and Haryana.
The breakthrough followed the arrest of Siraj, a 31-year-old man from Malappuram, six months ago near Kozhikode railway station.
He was caught with 778 grams of MDMA, which he allegedly obtained from a Nigerian contact in Delhi.
The report, quoting police, disclosed that digital and financial evidence later helped them (the police) trace two Nigerian suspects and their locations in Haryana and Delhi.
Following another tip-off, police raided a “drug kitchen” in Gurugram, where they arrested eight people, six of whom were said to be Nigerians.
About 1.60 kg of Sulfa (a sniffing drug), 904 g of cocaine, and 2.34 kg of raw cocaine, all valued at about ₹1 crore, are believed to have been recovered from the operation.
“Digital evidence gathered from mobile phones, messaging apps, and bank accounts has been key in exposing how the suspects operate and the hidden links within the network,” a police source told The Hindu.
The suspects, according to police findings, had bases in cities outside Kerala, from where they coordinated drug distribution.
A senior officer of the state-level Anti-Narcotics Special Action Force said, “Local drug pushers with interstate connections are suspected of playing a key role in encouraging these foreign nationals to supply narcotic substances within Kerala and neighbouring states.
“Call detail records of some local pushers already confirm this. We have also identified some of the kingpins behind these interstate and international networks.”
Another officer from the District Anti-Narcotics squad added that data from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office was already being used to track the movement, visa status, and possible criminal links of foreign nationals living in India.
The repeated arrests of Nigerians abroad have sparked concern at home and in other countries.
Last Friday, a Ghanaian court sentenced three Nigerians, Francis Friday, Linus Agwazie, and Russell Ekenze, to a combined jail term of 96 years for alleged car theft.
Credit: punchng.com
