0.6g MDMA trail leads Kannur Squad to Delhi dry fruit shop; Cameroonian ‘cook’, Nigerian dealer arrested

Kannur: Two foreign women, overstaying in India for more than five years and running a dry fruit shop in Delhi’s congested Burari locality, were arrested by Kannur police on charges of playing central roles in a drug trafficking network that supplied MDMA to Kerala and other states.

The arrested persons were identified as Cameroonian national Philomene Chanceline (30) and Nigerian national Chinelo Lilian Okorie (36) alias Santa.

Their arrests were announced by Kannur Range Deputy Inspector General K Karthik and Kannur City Police Commissioner B V Vijay Bharath Reddy in a press conference in Kannur on Tuesday.

The investigation that led police to Chanceline and Santa began with 0.6 grams of MDMA seized from a street peddler during a routine check in New Mahe near Thalassery in early July.

Over the next two-and-a-half months, the trail took investigators from Mahe and Thalassery to Bengaluru, Gurugram and finally Delhi, leading to the arrest or detention of eight people allegedly occupying different levels of the network, including a cook, distributors, a coordinator, a drug courier and a person who made fake documents and harvested mule accounts. Police have so far seized 985.6 grams of MDMA in connection with the investigation, apart from freezing bank accounts and recovering fake identity documents.

Thalassery Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) M Nandagopan, who is leading the investigation, told Onmanorama that Chanceline was involved in making MDMA in Delhi, while Santa handled the logistics, collecting the drug from her and moving it to customers and distributors in Kerala either through courier services or by hand. "She is a wholesale dealer operating out of Noida," he said.

The two women had been running what police described as a small dry fruit shop in Burari for about a year. The area has a sizeable African community, with many Nigerians living there, Nandagopan said.

The two women had overstayed their visas, he said, adding that Santa came to India on a medical visa six years ago, while Chanceline came on a 10-month tourist visa around the same time.

"We have informed the authorities concerned about their visa violations," he said.

According to Nandagopan, the women admitted to being involved in the illicit activity. "We suspect Chanceline was sourcing the raw material from outside the country to make it. So it is clear that it is not a one-person job," he said.

The 0.6gm trigger
The investigation began when Rajinas, described by Thalassery Police as a street peddler, was caught with 0.6 grams of MDMA in New Mahe in early July. His interrogation led police to Muhammad Sameem, who allegedly supplied him with the drug.

On July 3, police raided Sameen's house at Fathah KTP Mukku in Chirakkara, 3km from Thalassery, and seized 185 grams of alleged MDMA from his house and vehicle.

Thalassery Police went through Sameen's phone and bank records, which took them to Mujitaba alias Tabu, a Thalassery native whom officers identified as a coordinator above the street distributors.

Thalassery Police arrested Mujitaba from Bengaluru on August 3. Mujitaba allegedly maintained a system designed to keep sellers and buyers from meeting. According to Nandagopan, the package would be left at designated drop points through intermediaries. Once the buyer made the payment, Mujitaba would pass on the location of the concealed consignment.

Police said Mujitaba obtained supplies from Santa in Delhi. But before reaching Santa, police arrested Rishad, a native of Ernakulam. Thalassery Police were closing in on Thameem, a native of Kathiroor in Thalassery, when Haryana Crime Branch arrested him from Gurugram.

Rishad and Thameen, police said, were also in contact with Santa and had financial transactions with her. They allegedly helped connect the network in Kerala and were involved in moving the drugs. Rishad also has an NDPS case registered in Thalassery last year.

The investigation also led police to Abdul Rahman, a native of Kasaragod. Rahman allegedly made fake documents, arranged SIM cards and mule bank accounts for the drug trade.

In a parallel development, information shared by Kerala Police helped Haryana Police arrest Arshad Ali, described as an associate of Mujitaba, from Gurugram. Haryana police seized 800 grams of MDMA from Arshad Ali. Nandagopan said the people arrested in the case by Kerala Police were also wanted in connection with the Gurugram investigation.

Evidence gathered through this network led police to Chanceline, who allegedly cooked MDMA in Delhi.

Santa and Chanceline allegedly made transactions worth crores through around 20 bank accounts while frequently changing SIM cards. "Members of the Kannur City Police squad spent around 10 days in Delhi as part of the investigation before tracing and arresting the women," said DIG Karthik.

Police said nine bank accounts were so far frozen, while ₹8 lakh in cash was seized.

Nandagopan said it was perhaps the first time Kerala Police went this far from an arrest of a street peddler with 0.6gm of MDMA. "Normally, we stop at the second or third layer. I think we went this far because of the ongoing Operation Toofan," he said. 

Nandagopan said the investigation had gathered a volume of intelligence to keep the team pursuing the trail further. "There are people above the women. We are not disclosing their identities yet. Further arrests will be required before establishing their roles," he said.

The investigation is being carried out by the Kannur DANSAF squad, the Thalassery ASP squad and Thalassery police under Nandagopan.