International drug racket busted; seven foreign nationals among 8 held

The Gurugram police have busted an international drug racket and arrested eight persons — a woman and seven foreigners.

The accused were identified as Nigerian nationals Ugochukmv John, Nnajiofor Peter Nmaemeka, Henry Onuchukwu, Ojukwa Ifenya, Tobias Chikwu, Okolie Romanus and Mizoram resident Lal Kothari. Except Okolie, the rest did not have valid documents to stay in India, following which they were booked under the Foreigners Act.

The police have seized drugs worth Rs 1 crore from their possession. The seized drugs include 1.60-kg sulfa, 904-gm cocaine and 2.34-kg raw cocaine. The police have also recovered Rs 7,500 cash, 42 mobile phones, three electronic scales, eight packing packets, six bundle tapes and a Nigerian passport from the accused.

A senior police official said one of them was sent to police remand while the rest were sent to judicial custody after being produced in court. The police were investigating the case so that the other members could also be traced, he added.

According to the police, a team of Sector 43 crime unit, led by Inspector Narender Kumar, had arrested a drug smuggler, Bimal Pahadi, a Nepal native from Sector 39 with 1.60-kg sulpha and 116-gm cocaine. An FIR was registered at the Sadar police station and the police had taken the accused in four days’ police remand.

During interrogation, Bimal revealed the names of his seven accomplices. Following this, they were all arrested.

“During interrogation, he revealed that Ugochukwu John had already got cases registered against him in Delhi and Henry Onuchukwu had cases registered against him in Himachal Pradesh under the NDPS Act. Following this, they have been suspected to be involved in illegal drug trafficking for long. We are questioning Bimal while the rest have been sent to judicial custody,” said a police spokesperson.