Puducherry police seize narcotic drugs, arrest three Africans

PUDUCHERRY: The Puducherry police seized 30 tablets of Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (

MDMA

), commonly known as

ecstasy tablets

, and 23 packets of cocaine and arrested three Africans, including a woman, for possessing these drugs and attempting to sell them to students, local people and tourists in the town.


"This is the first time MDMA and cocaine are seized in the Union territory of Puducherry. Three Africans are arrested. Initial inquiries revealed that they procured the drugs from a Nigerian national settled in Delhi. Three years ago, police seized LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide narcotic stamps) in Villianur (10km from the town)," said superintendent of police (anti-narcotic squad) Vamseedhara Reddy.

The SP said the Muthialpet police received reliable information on Monday evening that foreigners staying in a house in a coastal hamlet under the station limits possessed narcotic drugs/ psychotropic substances and had been attempting to sell them to students and others.

Anti-narcotic squad members along with a team from the Muthialpet police station raided the house of the foreign nationals. On thorough search, they found 30 tablets of MDMA, totally weighing 12g, and 23 packets of cocaine, totally weighing 23g.

The police teams seized the drugs and arrested three people, identified as Justin Delvin Tarimo, 29, from Tanzania, who temporarily settled at Periyamudaliyar Chavady in Tamil Nadu, David Michael Elia, 26, from Sudan, a college student temporarily settled in Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu, and Francis Lucky Otery, 22, from Kenya, also a college student temporarily settled in

Salem

, Tamil Nadu.

Muthialpet inspector T Nagaraj said the seized drugs were worth around Rs 4 lakh in international market. He said seizures of more than 10g of MDMA would be treated as commercial quantity. Similarly, seizures of more than 100g of cocaine would be treated as commercial quantity, he said.

The police booked the African nationals under sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

They were remanded in judicial custody.