Nigerian is kingpin of drug cartel in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The former president of the Nigerian Association in Bengluru is allegedly the kingpin behind the drug cartel running in Hyderabad involving African natives, investigations by the State Excise and Prohibition departments revealed on Monday.

Eves alias Hamza, the Nigerian kingpin, operates from Bangalore and runs the trade by sending poor African students to Hyderabad, Goa and other cities as peddlers to sell cocaine, MDMA and other contraband drugs. 

The kingpin, who runs the cartel from Bangalore, targets students from Africa with financial problems and lures them into the business, AES Enforcement, N. Anji Reddy said.

"He has been trapping students and using them to sell drugs in Goa, Hyderabad and other cities. The operation and network was unearthed based on the confession of a BBA student arrested by our officials in Hyderabad," said the official, adding that Hamza was absconding and efforts were on to arrest him at the earliest.

North african national arrested with cocaine
Excise Enforcement officials arrested a 30-year-old North African who is a BBA student, after a raid near Bible House and seized 15 grams of cocaine and two mobile phones from him. Preliminary inquiries revealed that he was sent from Bangalore by Hamza to sell narcotic drugs here.

The arrested was identified as Vtindn Guessan Yves, 30, a resident  in Bengluru and native of Yaunde town in Ivory Coast police said.  He was spotted during a routine check while he was moving around suspiciously near Bible House and was picked up by the officials, who found 15 grams of cocaine and two mobile phones in his possession, said N. Anji Reddy, assistant sup-erintendent of excise enforcement.

“When questioned, he confessed that he worked for the kingpin Hamza in Bangalore and was sent to Hyderabad, like several others, by him. He also said that he had a roomate, Obum, a Nigerian, and that he had travelled to the city with him.”