Heroin worth Rs 214 crore seized from Rajkot, Nigerian man arrested in Delhi

“Marcy had come to India from Nigeria in August 2020 supposedly for treatment of ulcers. However, the ATS tracked him down on the basis of a label pasted on bags of heroin found behind the cricket stadium in Khanderi village,” the DGP said.

The accused was held from Delhi at 2.50 pm on Tuesday. He had come to India on a three-month visa. The ATS had sought his remand for 14 days but the NDPS court in Rajkot granted them his custody for 12 days, Vora said.

“Labels pasted on the bags had the name of somebody called Okoyo and his address in Delhi. Based on the detail, police went to Delhi with bags stuffed with a substance resembling heroin. At the given address, Ekwunife Marcy was present, and he took the delivery immediately. As he took the delivery, cops realised Marcy, a Nigerian national, was indeed the intended receiver of the consignment. He was arrested immediately, and brought to Rajkot,” Vora told reporters in Rajkot.

Citing information shared by the ATS, Vora said the ATS had got a tip-off that the Pakistan-based man, Anwar, had sent the narcotics consignment to Gujarat. “Once the consignment landed, somebody called Jafri was to receive it and send it to another man identified as Bablu. Bablu was to collect the parcels lying in a check dam behind the cricket stadium. It was here the ATS kept a vigil, waiting for Bablu to come and collect the bags containing heroin,” the government pleader said.

The ATS seized the consignment, Vora added, after no one turned up to collect it. “After waiting for a long time, the ATS suspected the accused could have got a whiff of police action and, therefore, they did not turn up to collect the consignment. Therefore, the ATS seized the bags. But interestingly, ATS officers found the name and address of a person in Delhi to whom this Bablu was to deliver the consignment,” said the DGP.