At least 106 Nigerians were arrested in India in 2024 for alleged drug trafficking, making them the most arrested African nationals and the second-highest group overall after Nepalese citizens.
According to The Indian Express, which cited the Narcotics Control Bureau’s annual report, a total of 660 foreign nationals were apprehended across India last year on drug-related charges.
The figures show Nepalese citizens led with 203 arrests, followed by Nigerians (106), Myanmarese (25), and Bangladeshis (18). Among African nationals, Nigerians were most represented, followed by Ivorians (14) and Ghanaians (13).
Releasing the report at the 2nd National Conference of Heads of Anti-Narcotics Task Forces, India’s Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, said the government was intensifying efforts to dismantle drug cartels.
“The time has come to bring those who run the drug trade in India while sitting abroad within the ambit of law,” Shah said, urging collaboration with the Central Bureau of Investigation to pursue extradition of fugitives.
He added that India’s anti-drug strategy would increasingly target large-scale traffickers, not just local peddlers. “Every state has to develop a high-level strategy targeting all three types of cartels: those operating at entry points, those distributing across states, and those selling locally,” he said.
Shah also called for greater use of technology, including darknet monitoring, cryptocurrency tracking, financial flow analysis, and machine learning, to counter drug networks.
The NCB report noted emerging trafficking methods, including 163 cases involving drones in Punjab, with similar incidents reported in Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.
Bureau Director General Anurag Garg warned that India’s geographical position—between two major global drug-producing regions, the “Death Crescent” (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran) and the “Death Triangle” (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos)—made it highly vulnerable to trafficking.
The disclosure comes weeks after Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency uncovered a cartel at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport accused of planting drugs in travellers’ luggage, leading to the release of three Nigerians detained in Saudi Arabia.
