Nigerian, two others held for peddling drugs

A Nigerian national has been caught with 20 grams of MDMA worth Rs 80,000. He claims he started peddling narcotics after suffering huge losses in his apparel business.

Police said Michel Johnson, 41, was caught red-handed waiting for "customers" outside a coffee shop on 100 Feet Road in Indiranagar, East Bengaluru, on Wednesday.

Police said Johnson told them he had arrived in India on a business visa and was selling clothes to shops in Chickpet area. The lockdown dealt a big blow to his business and he suffered losses. At the same time, he got in touch with foreigners peddling drugs and joined them, police quoted him as saying.

Police say Johnson showed them neither a passport nor a visa and suspect that he was staying illegally. He has been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) and the Foreigners Acts. A court has remanded him in judicial custody.

In another case, Sudduguntepalya police arrested Ashwin alias Saifuddin, a 22-year-old man from Manjeshwar, Kasargod district, from near a bus stop and reportedly recovered 30 kg of marijuana worth Rs 10 lakh from his house. Police suspect that he was peddling drugs to college-goers and IT professionals.

Police also arrested 25-year-old Parvez Yusuf and reportedly seized one kilogram of marijuana and 19 strips of LSD, all worth Rs 1 lakh, from him.