Nigerian Woman Arrested For Allegedly Running Drug Racket In India
The Kasaragod police have detained a Nigerian national accused of being a notorious kingpin of a significant drug supply network operating in Kerala, India.
She was recognized as Hafsa Rihanath Usman, alias Blessing Joy, by Kasaragod ASP P.K. Raju, who oversaw the investigation, and Bekal DySP C.K. Sunil Kumar, who detained the suspect in Bengaluru on May 17, 2023.
On Wednesday, May 17, a Kasaragod court ordered her to remain in judicial custody.
The accused’s arrest is part of increased efforts by law enforcement organizations to combat Kerala’s growing drug problem.
She was allegedly detained based on information from Abu Bakar (35), his wife Ameena Azara (23), who lives within the boundaries of the Melaparamba police station, A.K. Wasim (32) of Kalyana Nagar in Karnataka, and Suraj (32), a resident of Bengaluru, who was all detained on April 22 at Uduma Pallath in Kasaragod. All of these people were detained for various offenses.
The police claimed that Abu Bakar admitted following questioning that they had contacted the dealer over WhatsApp before having drugs supplied to them from Bengaluru.
The number belonged to the Nigerian woman, it was discovered through further inquiry. The investigative team claimed that the Nigerian Embassy had been notified of the woman’s arrest.
When arrested, she did not have any passport, visa or other documents. The woman reached Bengaluru on a student visa a year-and-a-half ago. It is suspected that her main aim was drug trade under the guise of studies,” said the police.
The suspect was arrested on the basis of instructions from District Police Chief Vaibhav Saxena, who is leading ‘Operation Clean Kasaragod’, to find the source of the drug.
Mr. Raju and Mr. Sunil Kumar said it is suspected that there is a large group behind the woman as part of the racket, adding that further investigation was on.
“Over the past two years and a half, Kasaragod police seized commercial quantities of MDMA 35 times. We suspect the contraband came from Hafsa in most of these cases,” said District Police Chief Vaibhav Saxena.
“She is a big fish. You can say she is the chief executive of her racket,” he said.
Hafsat reportedly told police that she is 22 and had lost her passport after arriving in Bengaluru on a student visa in January 2022.
“We neither believe her age nor her date of arrival,” Saxena said, adding that if she had lost her passport, she did not report it.
Kasaragod police had pulled out the statement of a bank account allegedly linked to the accused.
“We checked the transactions for three months and found Rs 68-70 lakh was being credited to the account every month,” the officer revealed.
The district police chief added that his team had conclusive evidence to put Hafsa behind bars for at least 10 years.
Inspectors P.K. Pradeep, K.M. John, senior civil police officers Sudhir Babu, Sreejith, Seema and Deepak, and civil police officers Nikesh, Harish, Sarish and Reshma Patoli were part of the police team that nabbed the accused.