The city crime branch and the anti-narcotics cell (ANC) of the Mumbai police in a joint operation conducted in south Mumbai have arrested 5 Nigerian nationals on charges of smuggling and peddling cocaine in the city. The seized cocaine's cost amounts to Rs.12.60 lakh in the international market.
"We have started a joint operation in coordination with the ANC of the city police and have been gathering information through human sources and other modes of information regarding drug peddling in the city which is reaching the youth and influencing them in drug culture. The operations are being conducted by the teams of crime branch and ANC. We had received information regarding presence of foreign drug peddlers in south Mumbai dealing in cocaine. On receiving the information the crime branch unit 2 and a team of ANC laid a trap and we successfully arrested five foreign national with 210 grams of cocaine," said Dhananjay Kulkarni, DCP, Detection, Mumbai police.
According to the police, out of the five Nigerians arrested in the matter one has past records registered with the city cops and two have been found without valid documents and passports to live in the country and their deportation will follow after legal process.
"After we received the information regarding the foreign nationals doing peddling of cocaine in south Mumbai, we laid a trap on Thursday night at about 11pm and nabbed the Nigerian nationals identified as Aloka Anslem (25) with 110 gms of the drug, Chukwudi Peter (28) with 30 gms, Jems Jidani (27) with 25 gms, Anthony Annikevi (25) with 25 gms and Nonso Daniel (28) with 20 gms of cocaine. All of them have been booked under sections 8 (c) 21 and 29 of the NDPS Act,” said an investigator.
The route according to the police, is a specific network through which the banned substances such as cocaine reaches the city.
"The base of cocaine is located in countries such as Mexico and Colombia from where it is supplied to different countries of the world in small quantities. As far as reaching it in India is concerned, its smuggling has various modus operandi – some stuff it in shoes whereas some peddlers hide it in specially made pockets in inner wear." said an official.
Once smuggled, the foreign peddlers either look for local drug peddlers to act as mediators or sell the drugs by themselves. In this case where five Nigerian nationals were arrested on Thursday, they did the dealing through mobile phone which has also been seized by the police team. In some cases peddling through the internet has also come to light. As part of the drive which was started by the crime branch and the ANC until now the police have seized 379 grams of cocaine amounting to over 25 lakh rupees
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