Cocaine, weighing 250 grams worth Rs25 lakh, was seized from Zana Abdul Karim Coulibaly, 25.
An Ivory Coastian national pursuing a management course in the city has been arrested from HRBR Layout in Kalyan Nagar while trying to sell cocaine to students, the police said on Tuesday.
Cocaine, weighing 250 grams worth Rs25 lakh, was seized from Zana Abdul Karim Coulibaly, 25.
The police said Coulibaly was staying with his girlfriend, a software engineer from Kerala, in Hegde Nagar. The accused was a third year BBM student of Miranda College. His girlfriend is not a suspect in the case.
The accused came to Bangalore on a student visa in 2007. He later started peddling drugs, procured from a few Nigerian nationals. The police said Coulibaly frequented Anjana Beach in Goa to get the banned substance.
The police said a tip-off led them to a pizza outlet in HRBR Layout, from where Coulibaly was arrested. Besides cocaine, the police also seized RS49,500 in cash and two mobile phones from him. The cash was the proceeds from drug sale.
“We have seized his passport,” deputy commissioner of police (Crime) Krishnamraju said.
A case was registered against the alleged drug pedlar at the Banasawadi police station. He was later sent to judicial custody for 15 days.
Preliminary investigation revealed that Coulibaly contacted his customers over the mobile phone, and delivered the susbstance at predetermined spots in the city.
“He was selling cocaine to IT & BT employees, students and youths at pubs, bars and restaurants in the city,” said R Lakshman, assistant commissioner of police (women and narcotics squad), whose team had arrested the man.
The police said drug suppliers were increasingly recruiting students from African nations to pedal banned narcotic substanes in the city.
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