Drug menace: NCB seeks travel ban on some African countries

Two Nigerian nationals who were arrested by the Navi Mumbai police in 2007. Fil pic

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has written to the Ministry of External Affairs and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and has cited major challenges in dealing with African nationals involved in drug smuggling activities across India, especially in Mumbai and Delhi, while seeking a travel ban or strict visa policy for some African countries. Officials have said they use various tactics to dodge law enforcement agencies.

Sources in the department have said 90 per cent of the foreign nationals who have been arrested in connection with various drug smuggling syndicates are from Nigeria.

The presence of Nigerian nationals involved in such activities across India, especially in Mumbai and Delhi, seems to have become a major challenge for the anti-drug agency as they use various tactics to dodge law enforcement agencies despite their arrest in multiple NDPS cases. "We have written to the authorities concerned multiple times seeking a ban or some very strict visa policy for some African countries to curb the drug menace in India. In most cases, the drugs in question have their origin in African countries and various African nationals living in India are also part of this syndicate," an NCB official told mid-day.

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In 2017, the issue of the drug menace involving African and Nigerian nationals was raised in Parliament. Representation pic

The official added, "If we arrest 10 foreign nationals in NDPS cases, eight to nine are from African countries, usually Nigeria. This year in Mumbai, 20 African nationals from Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania and the Ivory Coast have been arrested by the Mumbai Anti-Narcotics Cell and the NCB. In 2021, around 43 African nationals were arrested by the ANC and NCB in Mumbai. Of those, 40 were from Nigeria. Similarly, in 2019-20, around 25 Nigerians were arrested by the ANC in the city alone.

"African nationals are mostly present in areas on the outskirts of Mumbai and most of them have criminal records. They either figure in NDPS cases or are involved in cyber fraud," said Datta Nalwade, DCP, ANC.

According to the NCB, multiple Nigerian nationals have entered India using a single passport by changing the photograph in the travel document. "It appears that they have been manipulating the passport system in their own country to use one passport for multiple people, and the same has been noted in various cases," an NCB official said.

According to the NCB, around 8,000 Nigerian nationals are living in India despite their visas having expired, as per data provided by the Bureau of Immigration to the anti-drug agency. "This is concerning, as most of them are suspected to be involved in different types of crime, mostly drug smuggling and cyber fraud," the official added.

In 2017, the issue of the drug menace involving African and Nigerian nationals was raised in Parliament. Then the then-minister of state in the Ministry of Home Affairs shared consolidated data of cases in which African and Nigerian nationals were arrested by various states. Maharashtra, Delhi and Goa had topped the list.

As per the data, from 2014 to 2017, in 331 cases, around 364 Africans - including Nigerian nationals - were arrested across India, out of which 166 cases were reported in Maharashtra and around 125 Africans were arrested from Maharashtra.

"The government's initiatives to prevent drug trafficking include intensive preventive and interdiction efforts along known drug routes; strict surveillance and enforcement at import and export points; increased international cooperation for information exchange and investigative assistance in administering control over the movement of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, and precursor chemicals; and training programmes for law enforcement officials to upgrade their skills," the minister had said.

According to NCB's annual report, during the past two years, the trafficking of heroin from African countries to India has increased. This is being carried out by human carriers or personal belongings as well as in courier parcels. The major source countries for such trafficking are South Africa, Uganda and Kenya. During 2020-2021, 52 instances involving human carriers and 11 instances involving trafficking via parcels sourced from African countries were reported to the NCB.

364
No. of African nationals arrested across India from 2014 to 2017