CHENNAI: A Hindi movie actor, allegedly in financial distress, was arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at the Chennai airport on Monday on charges of smuggling 4 kg of the narcotic methaqualone worth Rs 40 crore at the the behest of a Delhi-based Nigerian gang.
The suspect has been identified as Vishal Brahma (32), a resident of Kokrajhar in Assam. He has acted in the 2019 Karan Johar production ‘Student of The Year- 2’.
Sources said Brahma was in dire need of money, and some of his friends in Delhi had introduced him to a member of a Nigerian-drug gang. The gang members had offered him an all-expenses paid holiday to Cambodia, and a few lakhs of rupees in exchange of trafficking drugs to Delhi, they said.
Brahma had travelled to Cambodia two weeks ago from Delhi. After sight-seeing and partying in different spots, he was given a trolley bag by a Nigerian. The drug was concealed in a compartment, sources said.
They also said the actor was directed to take a flight from Cambodia via Singapore to Chennai. He landed on Sunday on Air India flight AI 347 in the Chennai international airport where he was apprehended by DRI officials.
Sources said Brahma was instructed to get down at Chennai airport, check-in at a hotel near the Dr MGR Chennai Central Railway Station, and take a train to Delhi in the same night, and hand over the bag to a member of the gang at the national capital.
Brahma was arrested under the NDPS Act and remanded in prison.
Official sources said a detailed investigation into ascertaining the gang members behind the case is under way.