Nigerian woman arrested with cocaine worth over 3 million naira nine months after arriving in India for treatment of her brother’s cancer
A 30-year-old Nigerian Nwafor Onyinye Monica was arrested with cocaine worth 5.75 lakh in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Inida.
Okafor, who came to India nine months ago for treatment of her brother’s cancer, was arrested on Saturday, October 1, 2022, near the Kanathur tollbooth in an affluent neighborhood off East Coast Road (ECR)
The police also recovered Rs 2.6 lakh in cash and seized his mobile phone.
According to police, a team led by Inspector Saravanan of Pallikaranai PEW (Prohibition and Enforcement Wing), one of three trained by Tambaram town police to crack down on drug trafficking in their jurisdiction, was keeping vigil along ECR and OMR on a tip basis when they noticed the woman getting off a rickshaw and handing a small package to another person.
When she was intercepted and gave conflicting answers during questioning, she was detained and a search of her luggage revealed 72 small packets of cocaine.
Police said investigations revealed that after his brother returned to Nigeria after his cancer treatment, Onyinye rented an apartment in a compound in Velachery and started dealing narcotics, including cocaine.
An interrogation of some of his neighbors in the complex showed that several people visited his apartment at odd hours, including late at night.
“She procured cocaine from another Nigerian national in Mumbai, paying 2,000 a gram and reselling it for 5,000,” an investigator said, based on the woman’s confession.
The police are trying to find out if she was part of a large network of cocaine traffickers.
The woman was brought before a magistrate who sent her to prison.
