The city police crime branch and Goa police arrested a 35-year-old Nigerian national in Goa for smuggling cocaine into India and selling it in Goa.
The suspect was identified as Gabriel alias Christopher Vabuje Obo. He was in Goa for the last two years on a business visa. He is a science graduate.
On March 6, after seizing 400 gm cocaine worth Rs10 lakh from two Pune-based youngsters, the Pune police crime branch tried to unearth links with international drug cartels.
The two youngsters were identified as Harkatsingh alias Chotu Indrajeetsingh Gathode (21) of Brahma Avenue, Kondhwa Road and Ashraf alias Niya Abdul Jalil Thakur (21) of Bhagyodaya Nagar, Kondhwa. They had reportedly brought the contraband from a foreigner in Goa.
The police suspect the cocaine was to be sold to college students and foreign nationals in Pune.
Acting on a tip-off to constable Asif Patel of the anti-organised crime cell of the crime branch, a team led by inspector Balkrishna Kutwal, in-charge of gunda squad and assistant inspector Arvind Gokule laid a trap and nabbed the two suspects in a car near JJ Garden in Pune Camp on March 6.
Kutwal told DNA that the cocaine and the car were seized. Preliminary investigations revealed that they had gone to Goa to buy the cocaine from Gabriel.
On Monday, Gabriel was produced before a court and remanded in police custody till March 21.
