Noida cops seize 26 kg of MDMA drugs worth Rs 100 cr

Noida: Four Nigerian nationals living in Greater Noida have been arrested after 26 kg of MDMA drugs worth Rs 100 crore were allegedly seized from their rented home, officials said on Thursday.

The police said they also seized raw material which could have been used to cook MDMA (methylenedioxyphenethylamine) worth Rs 50 crore.

Popularly known as Ecstasy or Molly, MDMA is illegally used as a recreational or party drug. Deputy Commissioner of Police Greater Noida Saad Miya Khan said four Nigerian nationals were taken into custody after a raid at the house in Omnicron I sector adjoining Mathurapur village on Wednesday night.

This is the third such incident in the last one year in which drug-manufacturing labs were set up inside a rented house in Greater Noida by foreigners.

“Operation ‘Prahaar’ is underway for last one year in a crackdown on drug mafia and syndicates. We received inputs about this facility running at a house in Omnicron sector where some suspicious activities were being carried out since last five-six days,” DCP Khan told reporters.

“Working on the intelligence and inputs about a drug factory being set-up there, the SWAT team and officials of Dadri and Ecotech 1 police stations conducted a joint raid in which 26 kg of cooked meth (MDMA) and raw materials were seized,” the officer said.

The total cost of the cooked meth and the raw material is estimated worth around Rs 150 crore in the international market, he said. The four arrested men have been identified as Ifeanyi Johnbosco, Chidi, Emmenuel and Onyekechi, all aged around 30 years and natives of Nigeria in Africa, according to the police. A verification drive for foreigners living in Greater Noida had been carried out recently and would be continued in future also, he said.

“The police are working on the forward and backward linkages of the accused to trace their network. So far, some indications have come to light showing that they used online modes, dark web and shopping apps for their work,” Khan said.

He said some other points have come to light during the interrogation which can lead to arrest of some more people but declined to share details of that.

“This is our team’s third such raid in the last one year. In the first raid we seized 46 kg of MDMA, in the second it was 30 kg and now it is 26 kg.

Hence, a total of 102 kg of meth has been recovered in about a year which is a

good blow to the drug trade in the region,” the officer said.

In the previous two occasions also, foreigners were found cooking meth using

proper apparatus and equipment in their rented houses in Greater Noida.

DCP Khan said the police recovered passports of two accused from the house. One of them had a valid visa while the other’s visa had expired.

Documents of other two accused are yet to be seen and verified, he said, when asked if the accused were living illegally in India.