Eleven Nigerian nationals were arrested, on Friday, by the Navi Mumbai police for allegedly running a drug racket. According to the PTI report, the police seized from them cocaine and other narcotic substances worth Rs 1.61 crore. The individuals were arrested following a raid.
A police official said they acted on a tip-off that some Nigerians who were residing at Koprigaon in Navi Mumbai's Vashi were operating a drug racket. "A team of the police's Anti Human Trafficking Cell (AHTC) conducted a raid at a flat between 3 pm and 7 pm on Friday, and seized drugs from there," the official told PTI.
The Nigerian nationals were between the ages of 30 and 50 and they were nabbed during the operation and were formally placed under arrest in the wee hours of Saturday, the police official said. "The seized drugs comprised mostly cocaine. The stock also included mephedrone and MDMA. The collective value of the drugs is Rs 1,61,00,000," he added.
Several mobile phones and other equipment worth about Rs 25 lakh were also seized from the accused. As the investigation is underway, a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered at the APMC police station in Vashi, the official said.
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Meanwhile, on Friday the Chief Electoral Officer Uttar Pradesh, Navdeep Rinwa, between March 1 and April 25, law enforcement agencies including the Excise, Income Tax, Police, and Narcotics Department seized a total of Rs 322.817 crores worth of liquor, drugs, precious metals, and cash, among other items in the state.
On Thursday alone, the agencies recovered Rs 127.51 lakh worth of liquor, drugs, and cash from the state. This includes Rs 13.93 lakh in cash, 18,628.60 litres of liquor valued at Rs 49.95 lakh, 193,367.70 grams of drugs valued at Rs 63.62 lakh, and other materials valued at Rs 1,000 lakh, according to ANI.