The Thane city crime branch officials in Maharashtra, India, have arrested two Nigerian nationals and one autorickshaw driver with 147 grams of cocaine and 0.22 grams of LSD (a potent psychedelic drug) worth over ₹61 lakh, police said on Saturday, April 1. 

 

On March 29, senior police inspector of crime branch unit 5 Vikas Ghodke received a tip-off that a Nigerian national identified as Paul Chukwu, 48, was reaching the front gate of a hotel at Ghodbunder Road in Anand Nagar, Thane to sell cocaine.

 

Ghodke under the guidance of seniors from Wagle unit 5 reached the spot and arrested Paul who was in possession of 32 grams of cocaine worth approximately ₹12.80 lakh and 0.2 grams of LSD valued at approximately ₹1.20 lakh. The officers seized the drugs and registered a case against Paul at Kasarvadvali police station.

 

In a second arrest and seizure, on March 31, Nigerian national Gok Ajah, 32, was arrested from Indira Nagar, Wagle Estate in Thane after crime branch received an information that he was going to sell cocaine in the area with his alleged accomplice autorickshaw driver Laxman Anirudh, 27, a resident of Santacruz, Mumbai.

 

The officials seized 115 grams of cocaine worth ₹47.01 lakh from them. Both were booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

 

“We are checking if more people are involved in the sale of drugs in the city. This is one of the major crackdowns as it will help investigate further and give more leads to the illegal sale of drugs in the city,” said an officer of crime branch, Thane.