How African cartels are fuelling the great MDMA-meth boom in Delhi

Earlier, in August, the Crime Branch of Delhi Police had arrested a London-educated Nigerian healthcare professional named Lola, the sixth member of an alleged six-member Nigerian cartel that was peddling drugs in Delhi.

The other five members of the alleged cartel had been arrested in July and 100 kg of methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA — also known as molly or ecstasy — were seized.

“Five people, who were allegedly working for cross-continental drug kingpin Callistus alias Kallis, have been arrested. The police identified the accused as Kameni Philipp, Adore, Victor, Kelechi Chikwe, and a person known as ‘Tall Guy’,” Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Mangesh Kashyap had said on July 25.

According to police, Kallis operates out of Nigeria, and primarily deals in MDMA and cocaine.

The MDMA spike in Delhi
Africa-based gangs have pumped MDMA in larger quantities into the capital in recent months, moving the business away from heroin.

Last year, Delhi Police seized 9.12 kilograms of heroin from these gangs, and only 135.11 grams of MDMA. These numbers have been almost reversed this year — until August, as much as 9.65 kg of MDMA had been seized from African-origin peddlers, compared to just 993 g of heroin.

And over the last three months, the Delhi Police has seized at least Rs 200 crore worth of meth, which is a chemical cousin of MDMA, but triggers different kinds of responses among users.

Police officers said the recent increased popularity of MDMA can be attributed to “mixing” in “kitchens”, a process by which certain chemicals are mixed in MDMA to create a potent and addictive formula that can’t be delivered by other drugs.

“The purpose of mixing is not just cost-cutting. An MDMA addict will buy from any cartel. But if the addict is hooked to the specific chemical mix, then they won’t like the high of any other cartel’s product because the formula will be different,” an officer said.

The African connection
According to police data, 22 people from the African continent were arrested in 2024 in narcotics-related cases such as processing and smuggling to supply. This year, 20 people had been arrested until August.

The reason why large numbers of Africans become part of drug cartels — many of which are of South American origin — is poverty in many countries of the continent, a senior Delhi Police officer said.

But more important, the officer said, are some “unique” advantages that many Africans enjoy.

“Usually the accused have multiple relatives in multiple African countries. So their father could be from Nigeria, and the mother could be from Ivory Coast. They are able to procure passports from multiple countries, and can re-enter India by changing names even after they have been deported,” the officer said.

According to officers, many Africans misuse the medical visa issued to them. “They may use the visa to come to India, and stay on even after the expiration of the visa. Many landlords who give them accommodation don’t bother to check if the visas are still valid after a time. Police verification is rare,” the officer said.

Encrypted apps and anonymity
Another officer with the Delhi Police Crime Branch said that the use of end-to-end encrypted mobile phone applications and foreign mobile numbers make it difficult to establish the identities of the accused.

“The number they use to get orders from clients will be different from the number they use to contact operators in perhaps Nigeria or Dubai. They are all foreign numbers,” the officer said.

Pure meth, which is usually sourced from cartels in Colombia and Peru, is supplied to India via the Middle East, another officer said. “The cartels might rope in women of Indian origin, who travel to the country with packets of pure-grade narcotics taped to their bodies,” the officer said.

“Consignments are dropped at places like Metro stations, and the delivery guys wear helmets so the clients do not know the addresses and identities of the suppliers and vice versa,” said the officer.

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