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African hand in drug trade

CHANDIGARH: Chinedu, a cloth merchant from Nigeria, used to frequent India for business purposes, but he wasn’t making much money.

African hand in drug trade

A Nigerian drug smuggler in custody in Jalandhar. file photo



Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 21

Chinedu, a cloth merchant from Nigeria, used to frequent India for business purposes, but he wasn’t making much money. Then, he met Mike, a compatriot based in Dwarka (New Delhi), who introduced him to the “lucrative” drug trade in Punjab.

Chinedu made up to Rs 20,000 (about 1 lakh in Nigerian currency) for smuggling 1 kg of heroin each time to Punjab till a Punjab Police Counter-Intelligence team nabbed him in Jalandhar.

A woman, Rogget Namotabi, from Uganda, who was on student visa, was arrested in January this year. She was caught carrying 1.5 kg of heroin in dead fish while travelling in a night AC bus from Delhi to Jalandhar. The booty was meant for two residents of Daulewala village (Moga), which is notorious for drugs smuggling. Rogget had successfully made three trips earlier. Another African woman, Faith, was nabbed with 1 kg of heroin recently. She was on a tourist visa to India.

Imposters at work

From businessmen to needy patients and students, a large number of foreigners, especially Nigerians, with a well-established network with Afghanistan smugglers, are supplying drugs to Punjab. As the Indian security forces claim to have plugged the cross-border smuggling routes, drugs are being routed to Punjab via Delhi through these foreigners. And as per police investigation reports, these foreigners do not act just as peddlers, but are heading a network of African and Punjabi smugglers with an active link with smugglers in Afghanistan.

“Most crucial is their link with smugglers or addicts in most of the villages in Punjab notorious for drugs consumption, including Daulewala, among others. These Nigerians speak Punjabi and run a network from jail also after they are caught,” said HPS Khakh, AIG, Punjab Counter-Intelligence.

“The Punjab Home Department has written to the Delhi government to monitor these foreigners,” said Khakh.

The documents of the arrested foreigners reveal that they have overstayed their visa. “Almost all of these have expired visa in India. In some cases the visa has expired more than a year ago,” said AIG Harpeeet Singh, posted with the Special Task Force. “They make a quick buck, spend it lavishly, send some back home and then make another trip,” he said.

The Punjab Police have sent a report that Uttam Nagar, apart from Dwarka, in the Capital has become a hub of Nigerians. “Ït is called a mini Nigeria,” said Harpreet Singh.

Investigation into the smuggling network after the arrest of any Nigerian has led the police to the forward chain, but they have not made much success in knowing where the supply came from, “Often, the drug trail goes cold in Delhi. The arrested smuggler often doesn’t know the real identity of the person he received the consignment from,” said Khakh.

Afghan connection

Some of them do not remain a peddler. They establish a large network. The Punjab Police mention two cases in this context. Ropar SSP Swapan Sharma reveals the arrest of a Nigerian, Frank Margin (27), in August this year who had a known network of 25 African, Punjabi and Afghani smugglers. He was caught with 3.5 kg of heroin and 60 gm of ICE in the state. “We are working on the leads provided by him. He was in touch with several Afghan nationals in Delhi and Afghanistan for supply of contraband to drug smugglers in the Capital and Punjab.

Khakh reveals case of another prominent smuggler Michael, who was running his racket from the Nabha jail. “Michael’s name figured in the investigation of Uganda woman Rogget’s case. In the jail under the NDPS Act, he established a network with a man from Daulewala village, who was expert driver in trips for drug smuggling. The driver introduced him to others and soon they started operating from the jail to smuggle drugs to Daulewala and other places, till the woman smuggler was caught.”


Mostly Nigerians 

  • The Punjab Police have nabbed 24 Africans, including 18 Nigerians, this year only and recovered nearly 22 kg of heroin and 6 kg of opium from them
  • Last year, the police had arrested 50 Africans, including 42 Nigerians, for alleged drug smuggling

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