Navi Mumbai Police Arrest Nigerian Couple With Drugs Worth N42.8m 

The Anti-Narcotics Cell of the Navi Mumbai Crime Branch arrested a Nigerian couple on Thursday night for allegedly possessing cocaine and mephedrone worth ₹29.6 lakh.

The suspects, Tony Ogbenna Adah, 35, and his wife Namakula Grace, 30, were arrested near Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital on Thane-Belapur Road around 11:30 p.m. while allegedly attempting to sell the drugs, ANC senior inspector Sandeep Nigade said.

Police recovered 25.4 grams of cocaine and 56.02 grams of mephedrone, a commercial quantity valued at about ₹29.6 lakh. 

Nigade said the arrests followed a tip-off that the couple would arrive at the location to sell narcotics. Officers laid a trap and apprehended them at the scene.

The couple, who live in a rented apartment in Palava City near Dombivli, Thane district, were found with expired passports and visas, police said.

Adah was previously arrested two years ago by APMC police for possessing mephedrone. After securing bail, he could not be deported to Nigeria because his case is pending in court, Nigade said. He has been living with his wife in Palava City for the past year.

An FIR has been registered against the two at Turbhe police station under the NDPS Act.

“The arrested couple are members of a drug cartel operating from rental apartments in Palava City, which has apparently become a hub for drug peddlers,” Nigade said.

Last month, Navi Mumbai and Thane police conducted coordinated raids at 16 locations in Palava City and Khoni Village, Dombivli, arresting 24 African nationals, most of them Nigerian. The operation followed the arrest of alleged international drug kingpin Paul Chigbata Onuoch, who was wanted by Navi Mumbai police in an international narcotics probe.