TGNAB Busts Hawala Racket, Traces Nigerian Drug Network in Goa
Rs 50 lakh hawala busted; four Nigerians, three agents held in month-long undercover operation
Hyderabad: Four teams put up a month-long watch, coordinated with the local police and did intense groundwork, enabling the Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TGNAB) to expose Nigerian drug peddlers operating from villas, using dead drops at inconspicuous locations and laundering drug money.
On Friday, TGNAB had foiled an RS 50-lakh hawala transfer in Goa and arrested three operators.
TGNAB director Sandeep Shandiliya, in a press note, said the teams visited Goa and, as part of a month-long operation, met with the Goa DGP in May. This helped the bureau identify villas where Nigerians resided and operated from.
“Most suppliers work out of Parra, Calangute, Siolim and Anjuna. The drugs reach the elite, educated youth in Hyderabad. One such arrest was of DJ Swadeep alias DJ Swed, along with Balakrishna, who sourced drugs from Vansh Thakkar, a Pune-based DJ, in May,” Shandilya said.
Thakkar, recently charged by Raidurg police and TGNAB for selling cocaine to a doctor, goes by the stage name Beyondvoid. He performs mainly in Goa, Thane and Bengaluru and has done international gigs. He also holds boot camps in Goa and has reportedly supplied drugs to wealthy clients for years by sourcing them from Nigerians. He operates through three Instagram accounts.
Shandiliya said, “Our teams arrested four Nigerians in mid-May, including Maxwell in June. Their operations involved drugs worth crores and commissions in lakhs. They sent earnings back to their families in Nigeria through money laundering.”
He explained that two teams left for Goa three days ago and monitored Sangeetha Mobile Shop in Mapusa and Highland Park apartments round the clock. “We saw collection agents gathering cash. On June 1, the laundering kingpin collected the money. We waited for the right moment and raided on June 4, recovering Rs 50 lakh. Had we delayed by an hour, the money would’ve reached foreign drug cartels. We even saw foreigners handing over cash to agents.”
“We now have concrete proof of at least 50 Nigerians operating out of Goa. Anyone bringing a note is paid the specified amount. We traced 58 transactions from May 26 to June 3, totalling Rs 2.1 crore. Maxwell alone handled Rs 30 lakh. He’s in custody. DJ Swed is absconding, and Thakkar is in Bangkok. The three accused in the hawala case are Uttam Singh, Raju Singh and Mahender Prajapathy. A team is heading to Delhi for further investigation,” Shandiliya informed.
