admin
By Micheal Ortega
At least 106 Nigerians were arrested in India for alleged drug trafficking in 2024, making them the most arrested African nationals and the second highest overall, behind only Nepalese citizens.
Report by The Indian Express on Thursday, which cited the Narcotics Control Bureau’s annual report, that a total of 660 foreign nationals were apprehended across India last year on drug-related charges.
According to Wednesday’s The Indian Express report, Nigerians topped the African chart with 106 arrests, while 14 Ivorians and 13 Ghanaians were also implicated during the same period.
The report further revealed that Nepalese citizens led the overall list with 203 arrests, followed by Nigerians (106), Myanmarese (25), and Bangladeshis (18).
Releasing the report at the 2nd National Conference of Heads of Anti-Narcotics Task Forces, India’s Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, stressed that the government was determined to dismantle drug cartels.
Shah said, “The time has come to bring those who run the drug trade in India while sitting abroad within the ambit of law.”
“The CBI has done very good work on this. I appeal to all heads of ANTF that, with the help of the CBI, they should make the arrangements for the extradition of fugitives.
This will not only help in breaking the narcotics gangs but also the terrorism gangs.”
Shah added that India’s anti-drug war is shifting focus from small-scale peddlers to major cartels.
“Now, every state has to develop a high-level strategy targeting all three types of cartels: those operating at entry points, those distributing from entry points to states, and those selling narcotics in smaller areas within states.
“There is a need to adopt technologies such as darknet analysis, cryptocurrency tracking, logistics and financial flow analysis, and machine learning models to curb these cartels.”
Shah concluded by linking drug abuse to national development, warning, “Unfortunately, two of the regions from where drugs are supplied globally are very close to us. So, this is the time that we fight against it strongly.”
The NCB report also highlighted new trafficking routes, noting that “163 cases of drug trafficking through drones were reported in Punjab,” while similar drone cases were recorded in Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.
The bureau director general, Anurag Garg, was also quoted as warning that India’s geography makes it especially vulnerable to drug smuggling.
“India faces a growing challenge in combating narcotic drug and psychotropic substance trafficking due to its location between the Death Crescent (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran) and the Death Triangle (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos)—two major global drug-producing regions,” Garg said.
He explained further, “While the states of Punjab, Rajasthan, and Jammu & Kashmir are vulnerable to heroin smuggling from Pakistan, the north-eastern states—Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh—are affected by proximity to Myanmar. Coastal routes — Mumbai, Gujarat, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu — are now increasingly being exploited for the smuggling of synthetic drugs and precursors.”
The revelations come just weeks after Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency uncovered a syndicate at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport accused of planting drugs in travellers’ luggage.
The bust led to the release of three innocent Nigerians previously detained in Saudi Arabia.
