Hyderabad: A gang of foreigners smuggling cocaine into the city was busted by the excise and enforcement cops. The police seized 254 grams of cocaine worth Rs 1.5 crore and some cash from their possession. All the three accused, who were nabbed on Sunday, were staying illegally in the country as their visas had expired long ago.
The excise cops were successful in tracing the route through which cocaine was being smuggled and could trace out the kingpin named Lucky, who was operating from Nigeria. Deputy Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise in Hyderabad, C. Vivekananda Reddy, “As per preliminary information, the main accused Lucky is supplying cocaine to one gang operating from Mumbai and led by Dandy and another gang operating from Bangalore led by Ebuka.”
Earlier, Lucky used to stay in Hyderabad and operate the illegal business. In January this year he handed over the business to a person named Zadi Pascal from the Ivory Coast and left for Nigeria to oversee the business from there. The accused Zadi Pascal who was buying the narcotic substance from both the gangs and selling the same to potential customers was nabbed on Sunday.
Reddy added, “On reliable information, the Excise Enforcement team raided a house in Golconda area and seized 254 grams including 153 grams of unpacked cocaine and 101 grams of cocaine in packed form of one gram packet each from Zadi Pascal, Ugochukwu Chima Good luck and Okoro uchenna Samuel, both from Nigeria. Reportedly, the accused Pascal was selling cocaine for Rs 6,000 per one gram.”
Chima Good Luck, agent of Ebuka, came from Bangalore to hand over the cocaine to Pascal and take the money from him and was about to travel to Bangalore to hand it over to Ebuka. Uchenna Samuel, agent of Dandy, came from Mumbai to supervise the activities of Pascal on behalf of Dandy and Lucky.
Assistant Excise Superintendent, Mr N. Anji Reddy said, “The three accused who were nabbed by the excise cops came to India in 2015 and 2016 on a business visa which is valid for only six months. After it expired, they were staying illegally.” The cops also seized cash Rs. 3,20,000, the sales proceeds of the cocaine.
The cops have identified 11 customer of the accused. A case under relevant sections of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic substances Act was registered.
