A Nigerian, James Morrison, has been arrested by the Excise Enforcement officials in Hyderabad, India on the charge of peddling drugs.
The officials held the 28-year-old Nigerian on Tuesday following a tip-off. They seized 153 grammes of cocaine and 16 grammes of MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine), a party drug commonly known as ‘Molly’ or ‘Ecstasy’ from the suspect during a raid on a house at MS Makhtha area of Khairatabad.
Morrison, who claimed to be staying in India on a student visa, was said to be a ‘repeat offender’ and had secured bail after being arrested on similar charges in 2020.
According to investigations, one Daddy Boy, alias John and Mike from Bengaluru appointed Morrison as his agent to sell drugs in the city.
It was alleged that Daddy Boy would send the contraband to James through agents. The Nigerian would then contact customers through calls or WhatsApp and meet them at Imax, Necklace Road, Somajiguda, Begumpet, and other surrounding areas.
He sells a gramme of cocaine at Rs 6,000 (about N32, 000) to Rs 8,000 (about N42, 000) per gramme and a gramme of MDA for Rs 5,000 (about N26, 000) per gramme.
The Assistant Prohibition & Excise Superintendent, N. Anki Reddy, who led the team, said that Morrison was earlier arrested in August last year on charges of drug trafficking and six grammes of cocaine seized from him then.
He said, “This James Morrison was arrested in the month of August 2020 in a drugs case wherein 6 grammes of cocaine was seized from him and 2 more accused Nelson Samuel Smith and Abdul Kareem Abdullah.
“He is telling that he came to India on a student visa around four years ago. As of now, there was no evidence of him having any visa. He further said his passport was deposited in a court case in Mumbai and only a photocopy of the passport was seized from him.”
Items recovered from the suspect include: one Galaxy J7 prime mobile phone, one small weighing machine, a red tape and empty polythene covers weighing (86) gm and one long notebook showing transactions related to drugs.
“These raids were conducted as per the instructions of Sri N. A. Ajay Rao Joint Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise and under the direct supervision of N. Anjireddy Asst Excise Superintendent, Enforcement, Hyderabad and E. Chandrakumar CI, Md. Nijamuddin SI, Bhaskar Reddy, Azeem and K. Sreedhar HCS, Prakash, Rakesh, Srikanth, Gopal, Sai, Tejeswar and Sravanthi constables participated in the raid.” the statement says.