MDMA racket bust: Bengaluru woman arrested, suspected Nigerian supplier on the run

Bengaluru woman arrested with 60 grams of MDMA in joint operation by Cyberabad Police and TGANB.

A Bengaluru-based woman drug peddler was arrested minutes before she was to deliver a drug consignment, during a joint operation by the Cyberabad Police and Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TGANB). The police seized 60 grams of MDMA, classified as commercial quantity, valued at ₹6 lakh.

The accused, identified as Shatabdi Manna, a 24-year-old unemployed resident of Sola Devanahalli, Bengaluru and a native of Jamshedpur village in Jharkhand, was arrested at the Miyapur bus stop on February 19 before she could deliver the contraband. Investigations revealed that she was part of an interstate drug syndicate operating under the direction of a foreign supplier, identified as Warren Kokarango, a suspected Nigerian national, who remains at large.

Manna, a graduate from Bengaluru, reportedly came in contact with Kokarango in 2024. Struggling with financial difficulties, she agreed to store and distribute MDMA on his behalf. She had received consignments of 100 to 200 grams per transaction and had supplied drugs more than ten times in Bengaluru, Madhapur DCP Vineeth G explained.

The police have intensified crackdown on MDMA traffickers, leading to multiple arrests and seizures in the past few months. On February 11, two peddlers from Rajasthan were arrested in Petbasheerabad with 40 grams of MDMA while on December 25, three local drug peddlers were arrested in Film Nagar, Hyderabad, with 17.38 grams of MDMA. A wider bust in October 2024 led to the seizure of 350 grams of MDMA and the dismantling of a Rajasthan-based drug network operating across Hyderabad, with cases registered at Abids, Afzalgunj, and Choutuppal police stations.

Efforts are underway to trace the suppliers in all these cases.