Two
Nigerian drug peddlers and one from Ivory Coast, were arrested and 254 grams of
cocaine worth 15 lakh was seized from their possession after a raid at their
residence at Khadarbagh near Golconda in Hyderabad on Sunday night.
Excise sleuths arrested Zadi Pascal of Ivory
Coast, Ugochukwu Chima Goodluck and Okoro Uchenna Samuel, both from Nigeria.
Acting on specific information, the excise department’s enforcement wing raided
a house located at Bahaduryarjung Colony in Khadarbagh, Golconda on Sunday
night and arrested the trio in possession of 254 grams of cocaine.
“Apart
from the contraband, we have also seized 3.2 lakh cash, which the accused have
collected from clients by selling the drug. Our team has also seized three motorcycles
and four cell phones from the accused,” deputy commissioner, excise, C
Vivekananda Reddy, said.
On
interrogation, Pascal confessed that he had been working for two groups of
cocaine peddlers operating from Mumbai and Bengaluru.
"Goodluck works for Bengaluru-based
cocaine supplier Ebuka, while Samuel has been working for Mumbai-based supplier
Dandy, who in turn operates on the instructions of Nigeria-based peddler
Lucky,” excise department assistant superintendent N Anji Reddy said.
Goodluck
came from Bengaluru a few days ago and handed over cocaine to Pascal. After the
sale, he was supposed to collect cash from Pascal and hand over it over to
Ebuka. Samuel came from Mumbai to keep a watch on Pascal’s operations in the
city on behalf of Dandy and Lucky. None of the arrested peddlers have a valid
visa and they have been staying illegally in the country for the past
two-and-half-years, the excise officials said.
The deputy commissioner said they have
identified some customers and appropriate legal action would be initiated
against them. The accused were produced in court, which remanded them in
judicial custody.
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