REPORT: Nigerians most arrested Africans for drug crimes in India
No fewer than 106 Nigerians were arrested in India for alleged drug trafficking in 2024.
The Indian Express, citing the Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) annual report, noted that they make them the most arrested African nationals and the second-highest overall, behind only Nepalese citizens.
The NCB said a total of 660 foreign nationals were apprehended across India last year on drug-related charges.
Nepalese citizens recorded the highest number of arrests with 203, followed by Nigerians (106), Myanmarese (25), Bangladeshis (18), Ivorians (14), and Ghanaians (13).
Amit Shah, Union Home Minister, released the report during the second national conference of heads of Anti-Narcotics Task Forces (ANTF). The two-day event, organised by the NCB, began on Tuesday.
“According to the report, 163 cases of drug trafficking through drones were reported in Punjab, and 187.149 kg heroin, 5.39 kg methamphetamine and 4.22 kg opium were seized from different sectors.
“In Rajasthan, 15 cases of drones were reported and 39.155 kg heroin was recovered, while in Jammu and Kashmir, one case of drone was reported and 0.344 kg heroin was recovered,” the Indian Express reported.
“India faces a growing challenge in combating narcotic drug and psychotropic substance trafficking due to its geographic location between the Death Crescent (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran) and the Death Triangle (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos) – two major global drug-producing regions,” Director General (NCB) Anurag Garg said in the annual report.
The NCB warned that India’s location makes it vulnerable to international trafficking.
“While the states of Punjab, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir are vulnerable to heroin smuggling from Pakistan, the north-eastern states — Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh — are affected by proximity to Myanmar. Coastal routes — Mumbai, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu — are now increasingly being exploited for the smuggling of synthetic drugs and precursors,” said Anurag Garg, Director General of the NCB.
Shah stressed that India must expand its fight against cartels operating both inside and outside the country.
This comes just weeks after two Nigerians were arrested in Beirut, Lebanon, for allegedly smuggling 156 cocaine capsules weighing about three kilograms and valued at more than $500,000.
Nigeria’s drug crisis
Nigeria has also been grappling with its own deepening drug crisis.
The country’s drug use rate has soared to 14.4 percent, nearly three times the global average.
Over three million Nigerians are currently living with drug use disorders, according to the 2025 World Drug Report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The report listed Nigeria among the most affected countries in West Africa and warned of the broader consequences.
The UNODC Nigeria Country Representative described the escalating crisis as not only a public health emergency but also a development, security, and peacebuilding issue.
Cannabis remains the most abused drug in the country, with one in every three users requiring treatment or counselling.
Yet access to evidence-based rehabilitation services remains grossly inadequate.
