African national held from Navi Mumbai after MDMA worth Rs 2 cr seized

The Narcotics Control Bureau NCB in Mumbai has arrested an African national B O Afo almost six months after seizing 2170 kg of MDMA worth Rs 2 crore The accused involvement was discovered following the seizure he was tracked to Navi Mumbai where he had been hiding and had disconnected his phone The officials also found the drug syndicate involved has links to the NetherlandsThe seized MDMAThe NCB sources said the seized drugs would have been distributed to cities like Mumbai Pune Bengaluru Goa and Hyderabad Investigators are identifying the other key associates in the larger syndicate ldquoAfo was arrested on Tuesday and remanded in police custody till April 28 after being produced in court We found he has international links which are being investigatedrdquo said Amit Ghawate additional director NCB Mumbai According to the NCB Afo was using a fake passport and his visa had expired ldquoHe came to India in 2018 and has been staying here since thenrdquo said an official from the NCBThe drug bustIn October 2023 the NCB received information about a parcel containing a huge quantity of highvalue drugs being sourced from the Netherlands and transported into Mumbai Analysis led to the identification and detection of the parcel on October 19 2023 at the Foreign Post Office Mumbai When the parcel was unboxed they were found to contain items such as toys crayons pens etc ldquoHowever on closer examination it was observed that the packaging was abnormal When one side was cut open layers of multicoloured MDMA tablets were found concealed between the layers of the flap When other flaps of the package were cut open more such tablets were recovered A total of 4970 MDMA tablets were seizedrdquo said an NCB officialInternational angleSince the quantity of the drugs was huge and there was an international angle an extensive investigation was initiated by the NCB ldquoThe syndicate had carefully maintained a technical evasive manoeuvre to avoid any identification However in the course of our indepth investigation credible technical analysis led to the identification of a financial trailrdquo said the officialAfter the seizure the accused came to know about the police operation and disconnected his mobile phones and was roaming without any gadgets ldquoDuring the investigation we found that he was making domestic as well as international transactions from his debit and credit cards Some money was also sent to the Netherlands to his syndicate subordinatesrdquo said an NCB officialldquoThe syndicate was using new tricks and the parcels and modes of transport they use differ However with the help of international bank accounts and transactions we are trying to trace accused operating from foreign countriesrdquo said the official4970No of MDMA tablets seized