Ifeoluwa Akinwunmi, a 25-year-old Nigerian national is facing the prospect of up to 20 years imprisonment in India after she was allegedly found in possession of drugs valued at over ₦1.8 billion.
Akinwunmi, reportedly a hairstylist and nail technician, was arrested last Tuesday by officers from the Anti-Narcotics Wing of the Central Crime Branch in Bengaluru.
She was apprehended in Tarahunase village, along Rajanukunte Main Road, after arriving from Delhi with a suspicious bag.
According to The New Indian Express, the bag was found to contain 5.325 kilograms of MDMA crystals, a banned recreational drug.
The narcotics were concealed inside 11 new churidars — traditional Indian garments.
“She is a courier. She had come to hand over the drugs to a group of African peddlers.
“We noticed four men on two scooters in the area, but they did not collect the parcel. Akinwunmi was arrested while standing with the bag,” a police officer involved in the arrest was quoted as saying.
The suspect, who told investigators she traveled to India with plans to open a beauty salon, is now facing prosecution under India’s Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and the Foreigners Act, 1946.
Section 23 of the NDPS Act provides harsh penalties for individuals caught importing, exporting, or transshipping narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances.
Akinwunmi’s arrest occurred just two days after another Nigerian, Emmanuel Bediako, also known as Maxwell, was taken into custody by the Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau on separate drug trafficking allegations.
