Indian police arrested Nigerian national Ezeaputa Chijioke on 6 October with about 70.5 grammes of cocaine. He is accused of supplying the drug to club goers and party goers in the Chandigarh area and is said to have been unable to produce a passport.
The arrest formed part of a wider operation by the Chandigarh police operations cell that dismantled a cocaine supply network in Chandigarh and the surrounding tri city area. Three suspects were held in total, with a combined 113 grammes of cocaine recovered along with an ATM card.
The operation began on 4 October when officers arrested Rakesh Kumar, also known as Karan, near the Sector 23 C market and seized 22.1 grammes of cocaine from him. During questioning he named Jaskaran Singh Gill as his supplier. Gill was arrested the same day in Dehradun. He told police he had obtained the cocaine from Chijioke.
Police recovered a further 21.30 grammes of cocaine from Gill, together with a Mercedes, a Mitsubishi Pajero, a Tata Safari and an SBI ATM card said to be linked to financial transactions. The vehicles are believed to have been purchased with proceeds from drug trafficking.
According to the police, Kumar worked as a private cab driver and delivered cocaine to people attending clubs and parties on Gill’s instructions, receiving 500 rupees for each delivery. Gill coordinated the deliveries through Kumar and collected payments via QR codes and online platforms. Chijioke, who had been living in Kharar in Punjab, allegedly supplied the drug to Gill.
Reports indicate that Chijioke, aged 40 and also referred to in some accounts as Ezeaputa Charles Chijloke, arrived in India through Mumbai in 2019. He later moved to Gurugram in Haryana in 2020 and relocated to Kharar in 2025. He is said to have sold African food products before becoming involved in cocaine deliveries on a commission basis from September 2025.
Police stated that Chijioke could not produce his passport and was allegedly staying illegally in India. Investigations into the network remain ongoing. The case has been registered under India’s Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
The arrests come less than three months after four Nigerian nationals were detained in India in connection with a separate drug trafficking network, during which narcotics valued at about 15 crore rupees (roughly 2.1 billion naira) were recovered.
A.Ikechukwu
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- Indian Police Arrest Nigerian National Ezeaputa Chijioke with 70.5 Grammes of Cocaine
