Chandigarh Police busts international drug syndicate, 3 foreign nationals among 5 held
Three foreign nationals were among five persons linked with an international and an inter-state drugs syndicate arrested in two separate cases, and 50.88 gm of heroin, 67 gm of amphetamine and 70 gm of cocaine were seized from their possession, the Chandigarh Police said on Saturday.
Addressing a press conference here, SP (Crime) Jasbir Singh said a total of 187.88 grams of narcotics, which fall under the commercial quantity category, were seized, and two luxury vehicles, a BMW and a Honda Accord, were impounded from the accused.
The SP said the operations were carried out by teams from the Crime police station, led by SHO Inspector Satwinder Singh and overseen by DSP (Crime) Dheeraj Kumar.
Police said on July 22, ASI Nasib Singh and his team were on patrol duty when they stopped a foreign national with suspicious activity, identified as Imoru Damian, a Nigerian national currently residing at GTPL Complex, Khuni Majra, Kharar, and seized 62.60 grams of amphetamine from his possession.
Police said during his police remand, Damian disclosed the names of his associates, leading to the arrest of another Nigerian national Okoye Nnamdi and South African national Toufe Yosuof.
Okoye was arrested in Delhi with 35.80 grams of cocaine and 5.73 grams of amphetamine, police said, adding that his Honda Accord car was impounded.
Toufe, currently residing in Kharar, was arrested with 34.85 grams of cocaine, police said.
Police said all three foreign nationals had come to India on valid visas but overstayed. Damian and Nnamdi came on medical visas in 2021, while Yosuof arrived on a business visa in 2023, they said.
Divulging details of their modus operandi, the SP said, 'To escape police, they did not contact each other directly. They communicated with their handler sitting abroad, who then acted as a middleman. Their area of operation covered Chandigarh and Mohali, and they used networks of Nigerian students residing in Kharar to facilitate drug sales to local youths.'
In a separate case, ASI Bhupinder Singh and his team were on a patrol duty on July 19 when they flagged down a suspicious BMW car, but as the occupants refused to cooperate, policemen had to break the glass of the windows to apprehend them, police said.
Police said two people were arrested from the vehicle — Shiva Thakur, 31, a resident of Sector 45B in Chandigarh and a rented accommodation at Phase 9 in Mohali, and Jaisal Bains, 29, a resident of Alipure Sodhian village in Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab — with 50.88 grams of heroin and their BMW car was impounded.
Police said Shiva has a previous criminal history with three NDPS Act cases, and is out on bail from the high court.
Police said Jaisal, a graduate in English Honours, has been a friend of Shiva since Class 11, and had allegedly been receiving drug payments through her scanner.
The SP said, 'They were switching international numbers and using social media apps to avoid police surveillance. They were sourcing drugs from various parts of Punjab, including Gurdaspur.'
'The Chandigarh Police is now working on tracing their back channels and the broader network to prevent further drug circulation in the Tricity,' he added.
(The authors are interns at The Indian Express, Chandigarh)
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