NCB raises issue of Nigerians involved in trafficking with their top drug cop

The top Nigerian officer was asked to improve information and intelligence sharing about drug syndicates and scale up cooperation in joint operations, the people cited above said.

Over 8,000 Nigerian nationals were found involved in drug trafficking and financial crimes, having overstayed their Indian visas by two years or more, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) informed Nigeria’s top drug enforcement officer, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), during a high-level meeting in Delhi last week, people familiar with the development said on Tuesday.

Indian officials conveyed to the Nigerian side the trend of “reverse smuggling” of Afghan heroin via Africa as well as Nigerian cartels’ hiring young men and women from north-eastern states to deploy them as drug mules. (Representational image)

Indian officials conveyed to the Nigerian side the trend of “reverse smuggling” of Afghan heroin via Africa as well as Nigerian cartels’ hiring young men and women from north-eastern states to deploy them as drug mules. The top Nigerian officer was asked to improve information and intelligence sharing about drug syndicates and scale up cooperation in joint operations, the people cited above said.

Marwa, chairman of Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), who was in Delhi on December 6-7, was apprised of these issues by the NCB brass, including its director general SN Pradhan, deputy director general (DDG - operations) Sanjay Kumar Singh and other senior officers.

“The visiting delegation was told about large-scale drug smuggling activities of Nigerian citizens here in India. Data was shared on 8,020 Nigerian nationals — including almost one fourth of them women — violating their visa conditions by overstaying in India for over two years and how most of them are involved in drug trafficking and financial crimes,” said an officer, who didn’t want to be named.

To be sure, this person said, 27% (587) of all foreign nationals (2,194) arrested by drug enforcement agencies in India were Nigerians.

Detailing the “reverse smuggling” trend, NCB officials pointed out to Marwa and his team that Afghan heroin is trafficked to African countries, including Nigeria, through maritime routes and then sent to India.

They cited an NCB operation in May this year in which 7kg Afghan heroin was brought to Bengaluru airport from Nairobi via Dubai, hidden in the false bottom of a suitcase. While there were only 10 cases of reverse smuggling in 2020, with 35kg heroin recovered, the number rose to 38 cases and 208kg heroin seized in 2021. This year, 23 cases of reverse smuggling have already been investigated till July, in which 61kg heroin was seized.

Sharing details of a Nigerian syndicate active in India, NCB conveyed that a Nigerian national, Simon Eze Chukwuma, is wanted by them as he looks after the financial flow of drug money and distribution in India. Chukwuma is married to Juliet R Zamveli, a woman from Manipur. She, according to another officer who did not wish to be named either, “hires young men and women from remote areas of north-east India and these people are sent to African countries as drug mules”.

Asking for enhanced cooperation from Nigeria, officials said India had shared 21 inputs with the latter since 2019 but replies were awaited to 16 of those.

The NCB asked Marwa for regular exchange of intelligence, information about kingpins based in Nigeria, and the possibility of carrying our joint operations, said the second officer.

The issue of Nigerian nationals’ involvement in crimes in India was also raised by Union home minister Amit Shah with Nigerian minister of interior Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola during the “no money for terror” (NMFT) conference in Delhi last month.

Aregbesola told reporters then that he advocates “due process” and “appropriate trial” of those found involved in any illegal activity. “The chief of our National Drug Law Enforcement Agency is visiting India to discuss the capacity building to reduce, eliminate the drug activities. What I advocate is due process and appropriate trial of whoever is caught in any criminal activity in India,” Aregbesola said.

The NCB’s annual report 2021 said drug trafficking through maritime routes in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, estimated to be around 70% of total illegal drugs smuggling in India, posed a major new challenge for law enforcement agencies and it was anticipated that the use of maritime routes by Pakistan- and Afghanistan-based syndicates could increase going forward.