Hyderabad: Three individuals, including a Nigerian national, have been arrested for allegedly being involved in an international drug racket. Police seized cocaine and ecstasy pills worth Rs 30 lakh from a flat in Manikonda.

The accused have been identified as 22-year-old Chukwumeka Wisdom Onyeka, a Nigerian student at Gokul Global University in Gujarat; Gopishetty Rajesh, a 40-year-old wedding planner from the same apartment complex; and Bommadevara Veera Raju, a 32-year-old real estate and car dealer from Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh.

All three had been previously booked under separate drug-related cases registered at the Raidurgam police station.

According to reports, the raid was carried out on Sunday, June 22, based on intelligence inputs linking a Goa–Hyderabad narcotics supply chain. Officials recovered 107 grams of cocaine and 25 grams of ecstasy pills from the premises, where a drug deal was reportedly underway.

Investigations revealed that Chukwumeka Wisdom Onyeka had entered India on a student visa using a Sudanese passport under a false identity. Later, he obtained a Nigerian passport from a handler named Max in Goa, returned briefly to Nigeria in 2024, destroyed the passport, and re-entered the country under his real name using new documentation.

Authorities said the syndicate was being operated by a drug lord based in Nigeria, known by multiple aliases including Max, Princewel, Buchi, and Gabriel. He allegedly managed supply chains by recruiting African students in India who held fake or multiple passports.

Rajesh and Veera Raju, who were initially consumers, gradually turned into suppliers after developing contacts with elite clientele, including celebrities.

The duo frequently travelled to Goa to procure narcotics and facilitated deliveries in Hyderabad. On May 29 this year, Rajesh reportedly delivered cocaine for a rave party at a farmhouse in Aziz Nagar hosted by a regular customer named Phani Raj.

A follow-up delivery was also made in Mangalagiri on May 31.

Besides the narcotics, police seized six mobile phones used in the drug operations. Officials have identified two main suppliers, including Max in Nigeria and a man named Hanumant Babuso Divkar alias Baba from Goa.

Several consumers, including individuals named Phani Raj, Pavithra Reddy, Satish, Sada Shiva, Sudhir, and Bhanu, have also been identified during the investigation.

The TGANB urged to share information related to drug use or trafficking can be shared anonymously via the TGANB helpline at 1908 or WhatsApp at 8712671111.