A gang comprising five Nigerian nationals, one of them a student of Nizam college, and a woman of Indian origin were arrested for allegedly peddling drugs and indulging in human trafficking.
The Rachakonda police seized 20 grams of cocaine, 12 gms of brown sugar, 39.8 gms of Amphetamine tablets and 1.6 kg of marijuana from them. The Special Operations Team (SOT) also seized around ₹2 lakh from the main accused, P. Sangeetha, native of Vijayawada and her accomplices John Okorie, Ojukwu Cosmas, Okereke Cyril, Joan Paul and Ogunka Henry. It was also found that the Indian visa of the three accused Nigerians had expired
On Sunday, the SOT officials acting on a tip-off, frisked Sangeetha and John Okorie near a bus stop in LB Nagar. They found cocaine and marijuana on the accused and took them into custody. The accused duo disclosed that they were supplying drugs and revealed the names and addresses of other members involved in their activities. The special team then raided Ojoku Cosmas, with whom Sangeetha came in contact early this year and sharing a flat in Rajendranagar. Based on the confession of the third accused, the police proceeded to arrest three more members from their flat in Rajendranagar.
According to the officials, Okereke Cyril pursuing B.Com final year, was the president of Nigerian nationals in Hyderabad and he was providing shelter to some of the members.
During the investigation, the accused revealed that they were supplying drugs to customers in Hyderabad and the financial transactions were taking place through a bank account opened by Sangeetha. Another accused, John Paul, was earlier arrested by Goa police and imprisoned for three months. He was also conducting flesh trade by supplying Nigerian girls in Hyderabad .
Based on the phone contact details and bank statements, the officials said that the accused were in touch with 25 drug traffickers.