Nigerian man, cab driver arrested in India for smuggling 15 kg of drugs

The sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) busted a racket involved in smuggling amphetamine drugs out of India through the filters of water purifiers.

The agency seized 15 kg of the banned substance worth Rs 3 crore and arrested a Nigerian national and a driver attached to a ride-hailing firm who helped in the transporation of the drugs.

Those arrested have been identified as Ugochi Chikelu, 35, currently residing at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai, and Shiva Kumar Sharma, 38, a resident of Diva in Thane.

Acting on a tip off, DRI officials intercepted a vehicle driven by Sharma at Belapur in Navi Mumbai on May 13 and recovered three bags from the boot of the car. Some 14 cardboard boxes of a purifier company, containing parts of water filters laden with white coloured crystalline substance, were recovered.

“A test revealed that the crystalline substance was Amphetamine,” said an agency official.

Sharma confessed that Chikelu had given him the consignment. The Nigerian was arrested in Kharghar.

“Sharma told us that Chikelu had asked him to get the consignment delivered to an address through a local post office. He also said that he had received such consignments from Chikelu twice this month. Chikelu told us that he came to know Sharma two months ago when he had booked his car through a ridehailing app. He then developed cordial relationship with him. Chikelu admitted to have smuggled drugs out of India twice through Sharma by using fabricated PAN and Aadhaar cards. He would use Indian Postal Service for exporting the consignments,” said the official.