B'luru police seize drugs worth Rs 2.3 crore; doctor, foreigners arrested

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The city police have raided various locations and seized drugs worth Rs 2.3 crore last week, and arrested the accused involved.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda during the press briefing on Tuesday, said in one of the cases, the anti-narcotics wing of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) arrested a Bengaluru-based 30-yearold ophthalmologist and seized 42 grammes of hydro ganja worth Rs 3 lakh smuggled from the Netherlands through an international courier company.

On being alerted by the courier service, a CCB team raided an apartment at Yeshwantpur on February 24 following which they arrested an ophthalmologist, Nikhil Gopalkrishnan, and seized the narcotics from him.

The police found that the accused works in a private hospital and was allegedly addicted to drugs. Their investigation revealed that he had sourced the narcotics using a Telegram link and paid the supplier in bitcoins.

This was allegedly not the first time that the doctor had procured narcotics through this method, but was caught this time because the courier company alerted the cops, the police said.

Foreign nationals arrested at Soladevanahalli

In another case, the police arrested 40-year-old Nigerian national identified as Kalu Chukwa and seized MDMA crystals, 1,273 ecstasy tablets and other valuables from him, worth Rs 1.8 crore.

The accused had come to Bengaluru on a business visa in 2023, and was residing at Soladevanahalli. Following this, the CCB busted another duo peddling drugs in Soladevanahalli.

The accused were identified as Emmanuel Kwasy, 32, from Ghana, and Chainasa Cyprilan Okoye, 38, from Nigeria, and seized 500 gram of MDMA crystals worth Rs 51 lakh from them.

The accused had come to India on tourist visas. They started peddling drugs that they sourced from Mumbai.

The accused had been arrested earlier in a narcotics case. After their release, they shifted their base to Soladevanahalli in Bengaluru and continued peddling drugs.