Nigerian coke man behind bars

CHENNAI: Netting a ‘big fish’ in the drugs trade in the city over the weekend, the Narcotics Control Bureau on Monday announced the seizure of 122 gm of cocaine and Rs 69,000 cash from the arrested Nigerian peddler, wh-ose long list of clients includes affluent members of Chennai’s high-end society.Identifying the arrested man as 36-year-old Chukwu-emeka Damasus Chinedu, a native of Lagos, NCB Zonal Director S Davidson Devasirvatham told Express that the he began his operations in the city two years ago under the guise of a cloth merchant exporting T-shirts to his country from Tiruppur.Acting on a tip-off, an NCB team arrested Damasus Chi-nedu from a lodge on Anna Salai on Saturday and found in his possession 122 grams of cocaine, packed in white translucent packets of one gram each to facilitate easy street peddling. “What is worrying is that the Nigerian knew only a few youth hailing from affluent families in the beginning and through them gradually expanded his market,” he said.The senior NCB official said the Nigerian prowled posh clubs, pubs, beaches, parks and five-star hotels and zeroed in on the affluent youth. “After identifying some of them as his potential clientele, he then gave them his telephone number.”Davidson said Chinedu now boasted of a long list of 100-200 clients between 22 and 35 years, some even 40-plus, hailing from trade, business, corporate and other affluent backgrounds. “He has a large network and all his clients have his phone number. So, though he kept shifting from one lodge to another, whenever they needed cocaine, they called him and he supplied them outside star hotels, inside cars and during marriage parties,” he stated.Describing cocaine as highly addictive and a stimulant, which could cause violent behaviour, the senior IPS officer said the Nigerian sold around 100-150 gm of the banned drug to his customers every week. The peddler procured the narcotic substance, sourced from South America, from Mumbai or New Delhi for Rs 1,000-1,500 per gm and sold it for Rs 2,000-3,000 per gm to his clients in Chennai.Armed with the list of the peddler’s influential clients, the NCB planned to summon them for questioning, Davidson said. “The latest development is a major blow to the unscrupulous and often rut-hless organised crime syndicates indulging in narcotics trafficking in the country,” he added.Booked under the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substance Act, Damasus Chinedu now faces a long sojourn behind bars. “Any possession of cocaine more than 100 gm for commercial purposes is punishable by 10 years jail term under the Act,” Davidson said adding that the arrest and seizure was a timely shot in the arms of the NCB in its efforts at purging the drug threat.