Ifeoluwa Akinwunmi, a 25-year-old Nigerian woman, faces up to 20 years in prison in India after reportedly being discovered in possession of drugs worth more than N1.8 billion.
Akinwunmi, a hairstylist and nail artist, was apprehended last Tuesday in Bengaluru by members of the Central Crime Branch’s Anti-Narcotics Wing.
She was detained in Tarahunase hamlet, on Rajanukunte Main Road, after arriving from Delhi with a suspicious package.
According to The New Indian Express, the bag contained 5.325 kilograms of MDMA crystals, a banned party drug.
The contraband was hidden among 11 new churidars — traditional Indian outfits.
“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 operation was quoted as saying.
The suspect, who said she came to India to open a beauty salon, is now facing prosecution under India’s Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985 and the Foreigners Act of 1946.
Section 23 of the NDPS Act imposes severe penalties on those detected importing, exporting, or transhipping narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
According to the Indian legal code, offenders caught with a commercial quantity, such as the MDMA recovered from Akinwunmi, face a minimum of 10 years and up to 20 years in prison, as well as significant fines.
The section reads in part, “Where the contravention involves commercial quantity, [the offender shall be punished] with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to twenty years and shall also be liable to a fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees but which may extend to two lakh rupees.”
According to the Foreigners Act of 1946, the Indian government has the ability to prosecute and deport foreigners implicated in criminal activity.
Akinwunmi’s arrest came only two days after another Nigerian national, Emmanuel Bediako, commonly known as Maxwell, was nabbed by the Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau for alleged drug trafficking.
