NCB arrests second Nigerian national in cruise drugs case for possession of cocaine

NCB has so far arrested 20 people in connection with the case.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested the second foreign national in the Mumbai cruise drug bust case, the agency said on Sunday. “A team of NCB Mumbai intercepted one Nigerian national namely Okaro Ouzama along with an intermediate quantity of Cocaine, yesterday,” NCB zonal chief Sameer Wankhede told news agency ANI.

NCB has also arrested another Nigerian national, Chinedu Igwe, from suburban Andheri on October 7. (ANI)

Ouzama was arrested from Goregaon and will be produced in court soon, NCB said, adding that he is considered to be a “key person” in the ongoing investigation in the cruise drugs bust case. The agency has so far arrested 20 people in connection with the case.

The agency had raided a Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa from Mumbai at mid-sea on the night of October 2. Eight people, including Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, Arbaz Merchant, and Munmun Dhameccha, were first detained for questioning and later arrested on October 3. The three accused have been sent to 14-day judicial custody rejecting NCB’s appeal for remand.

The agency claims to have recovered 13 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of mephedrone, 22 pills of ecstasy -- in “intermediate quantities”, and 21 grams of charas, in “small quantity”, and cash to the tune of ₹1.33 lakh during their raid on the cruise ship.

NCB has also arrested another Nigerian national, Chinedu Igwe, from suburban Andheri on October 7, and claimed that 40 tablets of Ecstasy were found from his possession. On the same day the agency arrested one Achit Kumar from suburban Powai and claimed he was in possession of a small quantity of "hydroponic weed alias multi-strain cannabis".

NCB has also raided Bollywood producer Imtiaz Khatri’s residence in Bandra and questioned one of Shah Rukh Khan’s driver’s in this case on Saturday. Khatri has been asked to appear before the agency on Monday.