BENGALURU: A 25-year-old Nigerian woman, a hair stylist and nail artist, was arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Wing of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) on Tuesday for allegedly carrying 5.325 kilograms of MDMA crystals worth Rs 10 crore.
The accused, Akinwunmi Princess Ifeoluwa alias Princess, was arrested at Tarahunase village on Rajanukunte Main Road. Acting on a tip-off, CCB sleuths intercepted her as she arrived from Delhi with a bag containing the drugs.
“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. Princess was arrested while standing with the bag,” an officer said.
According to the police, the bag also contained 11 new churidars. During interrogation, Princess claimed she was unaware of the bag’s contents and was asked by a friend in Delhi to hand it over to a person wearing a black hat.
She further told police she had come to Bengaluru to start a salon. She claimed to be the daughter of a Nigerian civil servant but refused to share further details. She had arrived in India in October 2021 on a business visa. She later obtained a student visa to study at a deemed university in Telangana, though she never joined. Her visa expired in 2022, and she has been overstaying illegally since then.
“There are credible leads on her boyfriend in Delhi, who is absconding. She will be taken into police custody for further investigation. This is the first case registered against her in the city, and we are yet to verify if there are any cases elsewhere in the country,” an officer said.
Princess was handed over to the jurisdictional Chikkajala police station.