Nigerian Man Jailed For 10-Years For Drug Peddling In Bangalore, India

Forum 7 years ago

Nigerian Man Jailed For 10-Years For Drug Peddling In Bangalore, India

In what is being seen as a strong message to about 21 foreign nationals earlier arrested for peddling drugs, a district judge in Dharwad awarded a 10-year jail term and imposed Rs 1 lakh fine on 32-year-old Arthur Joseph, a Nigerian who was first arrested and put behind bars by Vidhya Giri police in January 2013 for supplying drugs.

Police had caught the accused red-handed in his rented house at Sattur layout with large quantities of various drugs. Soon, a chargesheet was framed and a trial had been initiated two years ago.

"If drug peddlers are convicted, then there will be some control over the drug mafia," a police officer said.

Recently, in Bengaluru, former model Darshitmita Gowda, 26, was arrested under various sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).

According to NCB officers, she was a member of a drug peddling group that catered to college students and working professionals in Bengaluru, Mangaluru and Goa.

The model, a regular at major fashion events, is the fifth person to be arrested in connection with the case, the investigation into which began after the NCB, on November 30, 2015, raided a posh apartment in RT Nagar. During the raid, 110 g of cocaine, 19 g of hashish, 1.2 g of MDMA and one LSD blot were seized.

In the last three years, 21 foreign nationals, 16 of them Nigerian, have been booked under the NDPS Act; some of them have been released on bail. Sources said some of the released members may have returned to their old drug-peddling ways.

Sources said cocaine is the 'drug of the elite', in India, it is supplied to five-star hotel clients and students from well-off families. However, common drugs like ganja, brown sugar, opium, ketamine and hashish are supplied those from middle-class backgrounds. Experts say that in Bengaluru, the supply of cocaine is comparatively low.

But the city is an important transit point for drug suppliers since the security at Delhi and Chennai Airports is higher. Peddlers are said to smuggle drugs from BIAL to other countries by concealing them in make-up boxes and footwear soles.
Customs and immigration authorities have trapped a number of peddlers and courier agencies for possessing banned drugs.