Hyderabad, Feb 5 (IANS) Hyderabad police have seized drugs worth Rs.1.60 crore and arrested three foreign nationals for drug peddling.
Hyderabad Narcotics Enforcement Wing (HNEW) made the arrests in a joint operation with Langer House and Humayun Nagar police and seized 1,300 grams of MDMA in three separate cases.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Task Force/ H-NEW, Y.V.S. Sudheendra, said they have arrested two Nigerians and a Guinean.
Police arrested Oliver Ugochukwu alias Johnson alias John alias Emji, a Nigerian, and seized 1,300 grams of MDMA from his possession. The 44-year-old was living in Mumbai.
The investigations revealed that he came to New Delhi in 2009 on a business visa. He developed friendships with the other Nigerians indulging in drug peddling. Even after the expiry of his valid visa and passport, he was staying in India and doing drug peddling.
He was arrested by Lodhi Colony Police Station, Delhi, in 2013 for possessing heroin for which he was in jail for 5 years and 9 months. After coming out from the jail in 2019, he shifted to Mumbai. He again started drug peddling and was supplying MDMA to Nigerians in Mumbai and Bengaluru. He used to procure the drug in bulk on need from a Nigerian identified as Oyibo, a resident of Delhi for Rs 300 per gram, and sold the same to the other Nigerians in Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru for Rs 600 to 1,000 per gram.
Oyibo had handed over to him three packets of MDMA weighing 1,300 grams and instructed him to go to Hyderabad and supply 100 grams of MDMA drug to a person. Accordingly, Oliver reached Hyderabad and was waiting for further instructions from Oyibo.
Moussa Camara alias Romeo, a national of Guinea and resident of Bengaluru, was arrested on charges of drug peddling.
According to police, he came to India in 2020 on a medical visa and landed at Mumbai International Airport. As he was carrying cocaine, the immigration authorities apprehended him. After spending six months in jail, he stayed with his friend Emika at Nallasopara, Mumbai. During their stay, he met with some Nigerian drug suppliers and developed contacts with them.
Last year, he moved to Bengaluru and started doing peddling in and around the state capital and also supplied drugs to Hyderabad.
On credible information, the HNEW team, along with Humayun Nagar Police, apprehended Camara at Paramount Hills in Toli Chowki. He admitted that he planned to start a drug business in Hyderabad as his associate who supplied drugs locally was arrested in October last year. He came to Hyderabad to find consumers.
In the third case, Ikechukwu Sylvester Mbah alias Sylvester, a Nigerian residing in Mumbai, was arrested.
According to police, he came to India on a business visa in 2012. He was arrested in Mumbai in 2019 in a Passport Act case and spent two years in jail.
He came to Hyderabad a few days ago to meet his friends and move to various places along with other drug associates. On credible information, he was apprehended under the limits of Humayun Nagar Police Station. The investigation revealed that he had been living in India without any valid visa. The DCP said he would be deported to his country after completing formalities.
