Tiruvallur cops deepen crackdown, arrest more in inter-state drug ring

CHENNAI: A sustained crackdown by the Tiruvallur district police on an inter-state drug cartel involving foreign nationals has led to two more arrests on Wednesday, taking the total number of those arrested in the case to 16.

Police said the arrest of Mohammed Afrah (22), a courier operating along the Bengaluru–Chennai route, helped trace and nab Mohammed Abdullah (28) on Wednesday. Police seized 68 grams of methamphetamine, 500 grams of ganja, and cash from him.

The alleged kingpin of the cartel, Bende (43), a Senegalese national residing in Delhi, was secured earlier this month and remanded in Tamil Nadu on November 6.

Investigators also found that inmates at Puzhal prison had links with the cartel and had connected recently released prisoners to the network to serve as couriers.

In addition to Bende, police earlier arrested Nigerian national Michael Nwasah Nnamadi from Namakkal, who posed as a textile trader, and Kafita Yannick Tshimbombo (36) of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

So far, police have seized 312 grams of methamphetamine and 26 grams of MDMA, as well as mobile phones, forged IDs, and bank accounts used to route money through West Bengal, Nagaland, and Mizoram.

Tiruvallur district police said the operation has disrupted a cartel that relied on inter-state couriers, isolated GPS drop points, and encrypted communications to move synthetic drugs into Chennai and neighbouring districts. The special team was led by DSP (Tiruvallur) Tamilarasi and comprised Inspectors Pugazh and Vinayakamoorthy (both from Ranipet district), four sub-inspectors, and a 15-member support team drawn from various districts of North Zone.