Nigerian Woman Nabbed In India With ₦1.8bn Worth Of MDMA Crystals

A 25-year-old Nigerian woman, Ifeoluwa Akinwunmi, has been arrested by India’s Central Crime Branch (CCB) Anti-Narcotics Wing for alleged drug trafficking, after being caught in possession of MDMA crystals worth over ₦1.8 billion.

Akinwunmi, who describes herself as a hairstylist and nail artist, claimed she had traveled to India with plans to open a beauty salon. However, on Tuesday, June 10, she was arrested in Tarahunase village, along Rajanukunte Main Road in Bengaluru, after officers found 5.325 kilograms of MDMA crystals hidden in her bag. The drugs are valued at ₹10 crore (over ₦1.8 billion).

Her arrest came just two days after another Nigerian national, Emmanuel Bediako a.k.a. Maxwell, was taken into custody by the Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau in a separate drug trafficking case.

According to The New Indian Express, the CCB acted on a tip-off and intercepted Akinwunmi shortly after she arrived from Delhi. Inside her bag, they found the MDMA stash carefully packed alongside 11 brand new churidars—a traditional Indian outfit—possibly as a diversion tactic.

“She’s a courier. She came to hand over the drugs to a group of African peddlers,” one of the police officers revealed. “We noticed four men on two scooters in the area, but they never collected the package. She was arrested while waiting with the bag.”

During interrogation, Akinwunmi—popularly known as Princess—claimed she had no knowledge of the contents of the bag. She said a friend in Delhi had instructed her to deliver it to an unidentified man wearing a black hat.

She also stated that she planned to start a salon business in Bengaluru and claimed to be the daughter of a Nigerian civil servant, though she refused to provide further personal information.

Investigations uncovered that Akinwunmi originally entered India on a business visa in October 2021. She later switched to a student visa to enroll at a university in Telangana but never followed through with her studies. Authorities say she has been illegally staying in India since her visa expired in 2022.

“There are credible leads on her boyfriend in Delhi, who is currently on the run,” a police officer said. “She’ll be taken into police custody for further investigation. This is her first recorded offence in the city, but we’re still verifying if she’s involved in other cases across the country.”

Akinwunmi has since been handed over to the Chikkajala Police Station, where further investigations are underway.