Capping a well-organised raid, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Friday netted the largest haul of cocaine this year. The arrest of a Nigerian national from a five-star hotel led NCB sleuths to recover 8 kilos of high grade cocaine valued at Rs 40 crore in international markets.
The consignment was smuggled from overseas. The NCB investigators are now looking for pushers as well as patrons who were to receive the shipment. The seized drug is used as a stimulant in parties and rave.
The NCB Deputy Director General (DDG) RP Singh said on Saturday that the Nigerian, identified as Amobi Chijioke Obianika, was arrested on Friday when he was taking delivery of a suitcase containing 8 kilos of cocaine at a popular high-end lodging address in South Delhi. Seizure of such a large consignment of freebase is rare. The Nigerian has been arrested under the stringent provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act even as the agency is looking for the “potential customers” of this illegal consignment. Investigations by the NCB have revealed that Obianika used a clever modus operandi of not carrying the drug consignment himself when he arrived from Nigeria on September 26. He booked it on a separate flight, which was supposed to be delivered by an airlines courier a day later to his hotel suite.
“We have deployed a special vigil after recent reports of illegal drugs being supplied to students came to light,” the DDG added.The operation to crack this case was formulated on the basis of a vital input and gumshoes kept a close watch on Obianika for over 24 hours before they caught him red-handed in his hotel suite. The Nigerian suspect did not receive the baggage immediately from the airlines courier when he arrived at the hotel but kept him waiting at the hotel lobby, officials said. He called the courier boy to his room some 40 later minutes. It was then that undercover NCB private eyes nabbed him.
The fine white powder was ingeniously stitched into the lining of the baggage wrapped in silver foil; the bag itself held empty boxes and clothes to make it look banal.