CHENNAI: The city police have secured two persons at New Delhi, including a Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) national who is said to be the main supplier of methamphetamine to peddlers in the city.
The arrest of five persons two months ago by Anna Salai-led police to their suppliers in Bengaluru, led to the arrest of five Nigerian nationals last month.
Based on the inputs provided by the arrested persons, a special team of city police headed by Anna Salai Inspector apprehended the main accused, Abou Dour (39) of Côte d'Ivoire and his associate, Rahul Singh (19), in Nilothi near New Delhi on Saturday. They seized 15 grams of cocaine, 7 grams of heroin, 3 grams of methamphetamine and Rs 50,000 cash from them.
The duo will be produced before a magistrate in New Delhi after which Chennai police would obtain a transit warrant to bring them to the city.
The Anti-Narcotics Intelligence Unit (ANIU) of the city police, which has been tasked with busting synthetic drug peddlers and dismantle the networks, had arrested 5 suspects in March near the Whites Road-Smith Road junction off Anna Salai, based on a tip off. They had seized 23 grams of methamphetamine, 5.3 grams of OG ganja, 2.6 gram MDMA tablets and Rs 1.67 lakh cash from them.
The arrested persons were identified as R Vigneshwaran (24) of Velachery, S Balachandran (28) of Taramani, S Yuvaraj (25) of Kolathur, J Suhail (24) of Perambur and M Praveen (31) of Ambattur. Probe had revealed that most of the synthetic drugs peddled in the city are sourced from other states.
This prompted the city police teams to travel to Bengaluru, where they arrested Nigerian nationals Christoper Oluchukwa, Samir Salah Nouraldeen, Etim Antigha, Effiong Etim, and Sheu Adeleke in connection with the Anna Salai case.