The Naroda Police have arrested a Nigerian national accused of masterminding an inter-state mephedrone trafficking racket involving drugs worth Rs 1.85 crore in the international market. The accused was identified as Charles, alias Frank Ofudil, and he was arrested in Kollam, Kerala, following a technical investigation.
Police said the accused had been operating the network from India while staying on a business visa. He allegedly used young drug addicts as intermediaries to transport and deliver narcotics, while coordinating the operation through WhatsApp calls.
A seizure that opened the case
The case came to light on 17 September 2026, when Naroda Police arrested Nikhilesh Ramesh Kishnappa, 24, a resident of Bengaluru, near Chamunda Tyres at Nana Chiloda Circle in Ahmedabad. Police recovered 1,850 grams of mephedrone from him, valued at Rs 55.50 lakh. Its estimated international market value was around Rs 1.85 crore.
During the investigation, police learnt that the consignment was meant to be delivered to a receiver in Bengaluru. A team subsequently laid a trap and arrested Vishal Aidora Simlach, 28, originally from Meghalaya, on 19 September when he arrived to collect the drugs.
Interrogation of the two arrested accused revealed that a Nigerian national known as Frank was allegedly controlling the drug supply and coordinating the deliveries. That single name became the starting point for a hunt that ran across three states.
Technical surveillance leads police to Kerala
The two arrested delivery agents could provide investigators with little information about Frank beyond his name. They reportedly had neither his photograph nor his residential address.
Naroda Surveillance PSI V R Chaudhary and his team then examined digital footprints and mobile numbers linked to the network. Technical analysis, combined with information from human sources, helped investigators identify the alleged mastermind as Charles, alias Frank Ofudil, 36, originally from Nigeria and residing in Bengaluru's Banaswadi area.
The police eventually traced him to Kollam in Kerala and arrested him. The arrest closed a gap of nearly two months between the September seizure and the capture of the man police say ran the network.
A network run on WhatsApp
Police investigations revealed that Ofudil entered India in 2019 on a business visa. He initially stayed in Delhi before shifting to Bengaluru in 2021, which subsequently became his base of operations.
According to investigators, he did not personally handle drug deliveries. Instead, he allegedly recruited young people, many of whom were themselves drug addicts, to transport narcotics and act as delivery agents. He reportedly managed the entire network through WhatsApp calls using foreign virtual numbers, keeping direct contact with the couriers to a minimum.
Police also found that a case had been registered against him under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act at Nadakkavu Police Station in Kozhikode, Kerala, in 2022.
The latest arrest is expected to help investigators establish the wider network, identify other associates and trace the supply chain behind the mephedrone consignment seized in Ahmedabad.
