The Palarivattom police have arrested a man considered to be a key figure in a Bengaluru-based African racket that predominantly supplied premium party drug MDMA in the city.
The arrested is Okafor Eze Emmanuel, 36, of Nigeria. He was picked up from K.R. Puram in Bengaluru braving stiff resistance.
A string of arrests following the seizure of 102.04 grams of MDMA hidden in a scooter along Stadium Link Road in Kaloor last month had led to the arrest of the Nigerian. Initially, one Haroon Sulthan was arrested in this connection on July 20. This was followed by the arrests of two more accused – Alin Joseph and Niju Peter – and another accused, Allan Tony, on July 28 and August 5 respectively.
Later, one Varghese Joseph Fernandez based in Bengaluru was arrested on August 13. He was accused of smuggling MDMA sourced from Delhi and Bengaluru to Kochi in large quantities. All the accused now remain in judicial custody.
Grilling the accused convinced the investigation team of the presence of a Nigerian in the drug smuggling racket. The ensuing probe revealed that the racket had smuggled in 4.50 kg of MDMA to Kochi in six months.
The Nigerian switched off his mobile phone and kept shifting his base in the wake of the arrests of his co-accomplices. A coordinated investigation with the support of the cyber cell and social media major WhatsApp helped zero in on the accused. It has since emerged that he was a key figure in the Bengaluru-based African racket engaged in drug smuggling, the police said. The racket was allegedly the biggest smuggler of MDMA to Kerala, especially Kochi.
The accused was brought here and produced in court following which he was remanded in judicial custody. The operation was overseen by District Police Chief (Kochi City) C.H. Nagaraju, Deputy Commissioner S. Sasidharan, and Ernakulam Assistant Commissioner P. Raj Kumar.
A team led by Palarivattom Station House Officer S. Sanal, senior civil police officer Saneep Kumar, and civil police officers Mahin Abubacker, Arun Surendran, and Unnikrishnan made the arrest.
