State Monitoring Cell (SMC) sleuths on Thursday arrested two Nigerian nationals with Amphetamine and Methamphetamine drugs worth Rs 1.26 crore from Vapi in Valsad.
Acting on a tip-off, SMC officials kept a watch near the railway overbridge at Kareambela village on National Highway-48 in Valsad on Thursday. They intercepted a car, which was moving “suspiciously” and found two Nigerian nationals inside the vehicle. On checking their luggage, officials found some chemical substance. Forensic Science Laboratory officials, who examined it on the spot, declared it as drugs. The teams weighed the contraband and found that 252.14 grams of the substance was worth Rs 1.26 crore.
Police also seized their mobile phones and recovered cash worth Rs 5,200 from their possession. The duo, arrested under different sections of the NDPS Act, were identified as Kelichiku Aze Francis (40) and Akimwani Taiwo David (28), both residents of Nalasopara in Palghar district, Maharashtra, and hails from Lagos in Nigeria.
SMC officials said that Francis was arrested in 2022 in a narcotics case by Mumbra police in Mumbai, and was released on bail in January 2025. Officials also said that Francis had come down to India in 2014, while David arrived in 2019. Officials are verifying details of their visa on the basis of their passports. Police are also trying to find out details about the receiver of the drugs.
Sources in the SMC said that earlier on February 17, SMC officials arrested a Nigerian woman, identified as Mgbudom Margret Ene (37), with 149.510 grams of cocaine worth Rs 1.49 crore from National Highway-48 between Navsari and Surat. Ene stays in Mumbai’s Kashimira area.
