Nigerian nabbed in ephedrine case

The Thane police has arrested the 12th accused in its Rs 2,000 crore ephedrine haul case. Sources said the arrested accused, Nigerian national Mob Christian, had signed a contract for the drug’s supply with a key accused in the case, Sushil Assikanan, and had also purchased 100 kg of the drug from him.

The Thane police arrested Assikanan on Monday and during his interrogation it became clear that another accused, identified as a M.O.B. Christian is also involved in the case. Thane narcotics department officials on Thursday morning arrested Christian from Navi Mumbai area and produced him in the Thane session’s court. The court has granted Christian’s police custody for the next three days.

Officials said, “While interrogating the 11th accused Sushil, he confessed that Christian had made a business commitment with him for the ephedrine. Last year, he had ordered 100 kg of ephedrine from him and after getting the product from Sushil, he asked for another 80 kg within 40 days.”

The police is trying to find out details of where Christian sent the 100 kg of ephedrine he procured from Sushil and also the people he had been dealing with.

Thane Anti-Narcotic Cell official Amol Walzade said, “We have arrested the accused, it’s really premature to say anything about his involvement in the case. We need time to investigate him and we will soon get the details about his work.”

Assikanan was nabbed from the Bangalore airport road after officials got a tip about him. He used to work in a factory in the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation area.