Drug syndicate busted, 6 held

The Delhi Police Crime Branch busted a drug syndicate that relied on “dead drops” concealing narcotics at secluded spots and sharing photographs and GPS coordinates with buyers, and arrested six persons, including two Nigerian nationals and a woman.The police recovered around 7 kg of methamphetamine worth Rs 21 crore in the international market.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Harsh Indora said the syndicate was run primarily by a Keralite based in Bengaluru and sourced consignments from Nigerian handlers operating both in India and abroad.

Its network extended across Delhi, Bengaluru, Kerala and other parts of South India, with a clientele largely consisting of students and IT professionals, the cop added.

He said on July 19, acting on inputs from the Kerala Police, a crime branch team arrested Suhail and his associate Sujin, both from Kannur, Kerala, at a guesthouse in south-west Delhi.

The cops recovered 5.95 kg of methamphetamine from their possession. Their interrogation led the police to Nigerian national Toby Deco, who was arrested from Mohan Garden with 64 grams of methamphetamine.

Further raid at his residence in Chhatarpur yielded 865 grams of methamphetamine. Deco revealed that the syndicate’s kingpin is based in Nigeria and coordinates deliveries through African couriers.

Following this, a team was dispatched to Bengaluru, where Suha Fatima, alias Neha, and her husband Mohammad Zaheed, alias Firoze, both key financers of the network, were arrested from a paying guest accommodation in Bommanahalli.

In a subsequent raid in Greater Noida, Nigerian national Chikwado Nnake Kingsley was arrested from Sector 1.

Further interrogation revealed that Suhail, originally a user, began peddling in Kerala in 2019 and later moved into commercial supply.

His network expanded in Bengaluru where demand was high. He intentionally sold in non-commercial quantities to evade stringent legal action under the NDPS Act.

Sujin, a former cab driver, was lured into the trade for financial gain, while Deco admitted to targeting students and IT professionals in Bengaluru after arriving in India as a student in 2018.

Fatima and Zaheed, the police said, initially dealt in small quantities of MDMA, but later financed larger consignments through Suhail. Kingsley, in India since 2015, worked for Nigerian handlers who operate remotely using WhatsApp and other social media platforms.