Richard Ginika Izuora
A Nigerian identified as Chidiebere Ambrose has been arrested in India after allegedly being fingered as the kingpin of a cocaine trafficking ring.
Ambrose was nabbed on Monday, December 14 by operatives of the Central Crime Branch (CCB).
Reports indicated that the Indian media reports that his arrest was announced by the Joint Commissioner of Police, Sandeep Patil. Specifically, n a statement on Tuesday, Patil revealed that Ambrose is known by the pseudonym – Chief.
“The main kingpin in the cocaine supply chain in Bengaluru has been arrested by the CCB. He is called ‘Chief’. His real name is Chidiebere Ambrose.
“We found that all the Nigerian drug peddlers bought cocaine from a person named ‘Chief’. After a detailed investigation, this Chief has been arrested,” Patil said in the statement.
Ambrose was reportedly nabbed during a meeting with a group of peddlers at a house in Banasawadi on Monday. The operation was planned carefully and railway police too had been alerted, the News India Express reports. The medium disclosed that a team of police officers on Ambrose’s trail received a tip-off about the meeting at Banaswadi and raided the venue.
Thereafter, Ambrose was arrested and charged to court. He was remanded in Police custody.
Providing additional details of the groundwork that aided his arrest, a senior police officer involved in the investigation told local newsmen that a special team working on tracking Ambrose had gathered call records of his associates and had been watching his movements. The detectives discovered that he was coming to Bengaluru by train and was bringing drugs from neighbouring states. The drugs were meant for distribution to his network of peddlers.
Consequently, the investigating team had hinted the railway police of Ambrose’s arrival.
After the arrest, the CCB seized 28 different SIM cards from Ambrose. He is believed to frequently change his numbers in order to evade detection.
However, the Police revealed that interrogation of those arrested in drug cases since August this year consistently threw up the name of Chief, indicating his status in the network.
With Ambrose arrested, the Police said it can now carry out investigations to identify the source of the drugs. Also, it expressed the hope that further investigations will reveal other persons involved in the drugs racket.