Cocaine ring: Manager, DJ of popular Chennai bar arrested

CHENNAI: Three people, including a Nigerian national, and the manager and disc jockey at a private bar in Nungambakkam, were arrested by the Chennai police's Anti-Narcotics Intelligence Unit (ANIU) for allegedly being part of a cocaine ring in the city.

Police said Julian Dishan (33), the DJ, and M Arunraj (29), the manager, of The Thief bar in Nungambakkam were distributing cocaine to customers visiting the bar. Earlier, the officials had arrested V Purushothaman (32) and Ramkumar Raju (37) a couple of days ago for alleged possession of cocaine and being part of the network.

The Nigerian's role came to light after the police took into custody some of the accused arrested along with the DJ. During questioning, the officials learnt that the Chennai men sourced the cocaine from a Nigerian contact.

The police team then tracked the Nigerian national, Eko Nathanial Chibuzor, to a hideout in Mumbai, where he was secured by the Anti-Narcotics Investigation Unit team. Officials said they were in the process of bringing him to the city.

The police team recovered five grams of cocaine from him. Once the police bring him down to Chennai, he would be remanded in custody, officials said.

The city police have so far recovered 60 grams of cocaine, 1.7 kg of ganja, two grams of ganja oil, four grams of OG ganja, 16 mobile phones, three two-wheelers, three cars, and two weighing machines from the accused.

"The ANIU team has been watching the bars, pubs and star hotels in the city to check if illegal activities are underway in these facilities," said an official release.

Noting that 18 persons have been arrested so far by the ANIU team since the first arrest on January 25, the police said they have warned the managements of bars and star hotels in the city of strict action if they indulge in illegal activities.