Mumbai Crime: Nigerian smuggler held with cocaine worth Rs 6.12 crore

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Anti-Narcotics Cell on Tuesday arrested a Nigerian man, who is suspected to be a member of an international drug cartel. ANC official said that the accused was arrested from Khar and had recovered high-quality cocaine worth Rs 6.12 crore from his possession.

ANC sleuths, based on a tip-off, laid a trap near Khar telephone exchange on the new link road on Monday night. The accused is identified as Bonavenchure Nzubechukwu Nwude (35) and has been living in Koparkhairane in Navi Mumbai.

"Nwude used to receive the contraband from Delhi international airport from his aides and visit Mumbai to sell it. The seized cocaine is around 96 per cent pure," said DCP, ANC, Shivdeep Lande. Nwude had picked up the cocaine parcel from a Mozambique national in Delhi.

"This drug cartel is being run from African countries whose members used to visit India to deliver the contrabands. They hide the drug capsules in their abdomen by swallowing them," he said. Another official said Nwude had visited India between 2002 and 2004 also for delivering drugs. He was scheduled to go to Taiwan from Mumbai. The ANC had arrested other members of the drug cartel from the city in the past.

"One of the accused, who was arrested from Goa earlier, seems to be linked to the same cartel," the official said, adding that an investigation is underway.

A Nigerian national staying in India illegally has been arrested by the Delhi police for allegedly duping several people to the tune of crores on the pretext of helping people export a herbal oil to Ghana.

The accused, Gilbert Okoye Pedro, was arrested by Delhi Police's cybercrime unit 'CyPAD' on Thursday for duping people by posing himself as a mediator in fictional deals of Folinic B12 Oil between Indian victims and a Ghanian company. The man used to target his victims through LinkedIn.

The victim, a resident of Tamilnadu's Vellore, in his complaint alleged that he received a LinkedIn connection request from a man who claimed to be one Raphael Hougbendji from Ghana, working as a PRO at a company in Ghana. He proposed a lucrative business to the complainant, of exporting herbal vaccination products (Folinic B12 Oil) from India to Ghana.

"The accused told the complainant that Folinic B12 Oil is required for producing vaccination for racehorses for their clients and the same oil is produced in India by a company. He further told the complainant that this oil was available in India at a very low price and that he would buy the same oil from the complainant at a high price, thus leading to a lot of profit," a police press note said.

With inputs from PTI

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