N9V TV
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested a Nigerian national with drugs worth Rs 1 crore (N55.4m) during a raid in which five officials were injured in Mumbai’s Mankhurd area, the agency said on Friday, August 13.
The Nigerian man was reportedly part of an international syndicate supplying drugs in Mumbai and nearby areas. The gang has been under under vigilance by NCB officials.
Heroin, mephedrone and cocaine worth more than Rs 1 crore were seized from him during the successful operation conducted on Thursday night, August 12.
Speaking to the media, NCB Zonal Director, Sameer Wankhede said the agency received a tip-off about a foreign gang operating in a swamp near Mankhurd railway station, and he led a team to the spot and tried to apprehend the members.
The gang members attacked the NCB team with stones, iron rods, laser lights, machetes and other weapons, injuring five officials, one of whom sustained serious injuries.
NCB said the drug cartel members had asked locals to keep an eye on highways and entry points and whenever a police or NCB vehicle entered the area, the locals would alert them.
“During the evening of August 12 and early morning on the next day, a core team of NCB officials conducted a search operation following input on foreign national gang members. The stretch is between Navi Mumbai to Makhur where they typically dealt. Because the said is mostly swamp and bushy, the operation was a difficult one as they took advantage of camouflage of the area. We struck and recovered drugs worth more than 1 crore. We have intercepted another foreign national in this regard,” Wankhede stated.
NCB Zonal Director asserted that the foreign nationals were not afraid of law enforcement agencies.
He said the Nigerian national will be produced before a court on Saturday, adding that an FIR has been registered against him for obstructing a public servant from performing his duty in addition to the FIR registered by the NCB under sections pertaining to drug selling, consumption, smuggling and dealing.
Meanwhile, the NCB is on the lookout for other members of the cartel.
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