Mumbai: Officials of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have arrested a Nigerian national who was allegedly part of an international drug smuggling syndicate and have seized commercial quantity cocaine from his alleged possession on Thursday night. NCB Mumbai in its fight against drug peddlers have so far arrested 22 foreign nationals this year.
The arrested foreign national has been identified as Stephen Samuel alias Tony.
Speaking about the case, Zonal Director of Mumbai NCB, Sameer Wankhede said, "On reliable information, a team of NCB had mounted surveillance at Sector-30, Kharghar in Navi Mumbai and had intercepted one Nigerian national Stephen Samuel and from his possession seized 102 grams of Cocaine (commercial quantity)."
"Samuel is a notorious criminal and is running an international drug trafficking network especially supplying cocaine pan-India. He was under watch of NCB Mumbai for the past few months and recently he had come to Mumbai from Delhi for the supply of cocaine. He appears to be a crucial link to the supply network of cocaine from Colombia to Mumbai via Ethiopia," Wankhede said.
At the time of interception, Stephen Samuel tried to resist his arrest and attacked the NCB team in which two NCB officers were injured, who were immediately rushed to the nearest government hospital for medical help. The process to lodge FIR against the accused Stephen Samuel has been initiated by the NCB officers for obstructing government officials during government duty, NCB officials said.
