Of the nine arrested, two were software engineers and were working as local peddlers: Police
Hyderabad: In separate cases, Hyderabad police, in coordination with the Hyderabad Narcotic Enforcement Wing (H-NEW), arrested 10 persons, including two Nigerian nationals and a software employee, for drug peddling at various locations in the city. Authorities have initiated deportation proceedings for the Nigerians for overstaying illegally in the city.
The arrested include Aful Clement, 29, and Lazarus Chinwenmeri Favour, 19, both from Nigeria; Harshavardhan, 28, a software employee from Gajularamaram; Mujaffar Wahid Shaikh, 30, an electrician from Navi Mumbai; Vinod Kishanlal Shrivasthav, 53, a taxi driver from Chembur Colony, Mumbai; Chaitanya Vinayak Wagh, 29, a 3D art consultant from Chowpatty, Mumbai; Mustak Khan, 31, a delivery boy from suburban Mumbai; and Pawan Bhati, 24, and Hemsingh Kachhawa, 26, both from Rajasthan.
In the first case, Hyderabad police commissioner C.V. Anand said the arrests followed intensified raids by city police and H-NEW teams. Aful Clement arrived in India on a business visa to export garments to Nigeria. In 2022, he was arrested in a cheating case by Chandigarh police and served six months in Model Jail. After release, he stayed in Delhi and later moved to Bangalore, where he resumed drug trafficking with his friend Lazarus, who had come to India on a student visa. The two were apprehended in Tolichowki while moving suspiciously. Deportation proceedings have begun in coordination with the FRRO.
In the second case, software engineer Harshavardhan was arrested for allegedly peddling cocaine. Despite working in a reputed firm, a failed relationship led him to drug use and frequent visits to pubs. He sourced from Bangalore and Goa through couriers and direct contact. He sold it at a profit in Hyderabad to maintain a lavish lifestyle. The remaining accused were apprehended in separate incidents of drug peddling across the city.
