Mangaluru Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal on March 16, 2025, with the team of Central Crime Branch sleuths, who recently arrested two South African nationals in Bengaluru and recovered 37 kg of MDMA, worth ₹75 crore, which is highest recovery of drugs by State Police so far.
| Photo Credit: H.S. Manjunath
The Mangaluru police have arrested two South African women and seized 37.878 kg of synthetic narcotic drug MDMA, worth ₹75 crore, which according to police was brought by a domestic flight from Delhi to Bengaluru.
This is the highest value of drugs seized by the Karnataka police so far, according to Mangaluru Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal.
Addressing press persons here on Sunday (March 16, 2025) he gave names of the accused as Bamba Fanta alias Adonis Jabulile, 31, a native of Agbovillae Africaanse Sub Division and Abigail Adonis alias Olijo Evans, 30, a native of Lieu De Naisance, Pretoria, both in South Africa.
Bamba Fanta alias Adonis Jabulile (left), and Abigail Adonis arrested by Mangaluru Police.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Mr. Agrawal said the arrest of two women was the fall out of further investigation by Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths of Mangaluru into the arrest of Hyder alias Hyder Ali, an alleged drug peddler, in 2024, from whom 15g of MDMA was seized. Based on the information from Ali, the CCB sleuths arrested alleged drug peddler Peter Ikedi Belonwu, a Nigerian, in Bengaluru, from whom they recovered 6.248 kg of MDMA.
During the questioning of Belonwu, the CCB sleuths got information about South African women flying down from Delhi to Bengaluru and delivering MDMA to fellow drug peddlers in Bengaluru. The two women were reportedly flying down with MDMA every fortnight, delivering the drugs and flying back to Delhi within 24 hours of landing at Bengaluru airport.
“For the last six months, our CCB team was closely tracking movement of the two South African women,” the officer said.
After a tip off about arrival of the accused in the early hours of March 14, a team of CCB sleuths reached the Bengaluru international airport. Soon after landing at the airport around 12.30 a.m. on March 14, the two accused booked a taxi to move around the city and deliver MDMA.
The sleuths followed the accused for nearly six hours. The CCB sleuths raided a place in Neeladri Nagar in Electronics City on March 14 and arrested the two women.
Apart from 37.878 kg of MDMA, the police also seized four mobile phones, two trolley bags, two passports and ₹18,460 from the two women.
In the brief questioning, it came to light that in the past one year the two women have flown down 37 times to Bengaluru and 22 times to Mumbai to deliver MDMA. “We are yet to know how they managed to hoodwink security personnel at these major airports.” The officer said the police suspect accused of procuring MDMA from abroad or from places near to Delhi.
Mr. Agrawal said Fanta and Adonis have been into delivery of MDMA for the past 18 months. Both are accused of using fake passports and VISA. Fanta, who is into food cart business, came to India on a business visa in 2020 and continued to stay in Delhi. Adonis, who is into selling ready-made cloths in Delhi, entered India in July 2016 on medical visa.
As the accused are involved in inter-state operations on a large scale, the city police will involve Narcotic Control Bureau to find out more information about the accused and their alleged associates.
Mr. Agrawal lauded painstaking efforts put in by CCB team led by Police Inspector K.M. Rafiq in detecting a major drug peddling racket. The team comprised of Police Sub Inspectors M.V. Sudeep, Sharanappa Bhandari and Naredra, Assistant Sub Inspectors K.V. Mohan, Ram Poojary, Shenappa and Sujan Shetty. An award to the team will be announced soon by Home Minister G. Parameshwara, the officer said.
Published – March 16, 2025 03:48 pm IST