Nigerian drug peddler, 3 others caught with cocaine in Neredmet

Hyderabad: The police busted an interstate drug smuggling racket here on Tuesday and arrested a Nigerian national and three others. They also seized 38 grams of cocaine from them.

The officers of the special operations team (SOT), LB Nagar zone, along with the Neredmet police apprehended Mark Owolabi (41), Thota Harshavardhan (23), Duddu Pavan Kumar (21), and Gunapogula Swami Prasad (23). Besides cocaine, the police seized Rs. 22,000 cash, three two-wheelers, and four mobile phones, all worth Rs. 9.10 lakh, from their possession. Another accused, Abhishek Singh, is absconding.

Mark Owolabi alias Jiggi is from Pedro Lagos in Nigeria. He came to Mumbai in 2012 on a business Visa and was exporting fabrics to his country. Currently, he was staying in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. He had been arrested several times in the past few years.

In 2018, Jiggi was arrested by the Narsingi police for failing to produce his passport and Visa. He was detained under Section 14(A) of the Foreigners Act 1946, produced before the court, and remanded to judicial custody. He was released on bail on 19 December 2018. He was again arrested by Ameerpet Prohibition and Excise police in 2019 and released on bail on 29 October 2019. The Golconda Prohibition and Excise police arrested him in 2021 in a drugs case. He was released on 24 September 2021. Even after his release, he continued to supply drugs.

On the morning of 1 February 2022, Jiggi came to Gokul Nagar in Neredmet to deliver the drugs to Harshavardhan, Pavan, and Prasad. They were arrested by the SOT, LB Nagar zone, and the Neredmet police. During interrogation, the police found that Jiggi was procuring the drugs from someone in Delhi.