The Mangaluru Crime Branch recently seized 37.87 kg of MDMA worth Rs 75 crore and arrested two women foreign nationals in Bengaluru. The drug seizure – one of the biggest of its kind in the state till date – came during the follow-up of a six-month-old case wherein the police had seized 15 grams of MDMA.
The arrested women have been identified as Bamba Fanta alias Adonis Jabulile, 31, a native of a Western African country, and Abigali Adonis alias Odijo Evans, 30, a Nigerian. The two women were intercepted at Neeladrinagar near Electronic City in Bengaluru. Fanta came to India in 2020 on a business visa. While Adonis, who first came to India in 2016 on a medical visa, has been illegally staying in the country.
Anupam Agrawal, Police Commissioner, Mangaluru, explained that the arrest of drug peddler Haider Ali last year from a lodge near Pumpwell in Mangaluru led to the arrest of Nigerian national Peter Ikedi Belonwo, who was supplying drugs to Ali. During the investigation, the police observed that the two recently arrested women used to take a 9.50 pm flight at least once every 15 days from Delhi to Bengaluru, and return within a day. The women had allegedly travelled 37 times between Delhi and Bengaluru in the last six months.
On March 13, the Mangaluru police received information that the accused women were again traveling to Bengaluru. They followed the two women, hoping to get more leads, and arrested them the next day. The 37.87 kg of MDMA was seized from their trolley bags.
The police were yet to ascertain whether the MDMA was imported from another country or manufactured in India. They said it would have been impossible for the two women to transport such large quantities of the drug without help from any official.
Agrawal said Fanta and Evans used fake passports and fake visas for their travel. The crime branch police are expected to take the accused into police custody for further probe.
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