Boko Haram, Dawood tie up to sell drugs in India

Boko Haram and Dawood Ibrahim have struck a deal to sell drugs in India, discovers Vicky Nanjappa/Rediff.com

Nigerians who sell drugs in Goa are allegedly now under the control of Boko Haram, the dreaded terrorist organisation based in northeastern Nigeria and an Al Qaeda affiliate, claims an Intelligence Bureau report.

Boko Haram, which funds its acts of brutal terror through its involvement in the drug trade, has now entered India with the help of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, the Intelligence Bureau believes.

Over 1,500 Nigerians are suspected to be currently involved in the drug trade in India. After a crackdown on them in Goa last year, these drug peddlers felt the need for protection. Boko Haram saw the opportunity and stepped in.

Drug cartels in South Asia, the Intelligence Bureau says, are under the control of terror groups like Al Qaeda. A major chunk of the drugs harvested are picked up by Dawood Ibrahim.

The Intelligence Bureau report claims that Boko Haram-backed drug peddlers source the drugs from Ibrahim's criminal network.

The drugs network in Goa was controlled by the Russian mafia who found it easy to thwart the Nigerians who once operated as individuals. With their links to Boko Haram and Dawood Ibrahim, the Nigerians now pose a serious threat to the Russian mafia.

Anees Ibrahim, Dawood's younger brother, is the go-between with Boko Haram, believes the Intelligence Bureau.

Around 40 Nigerian drug peddlers have been arrested in the past year; only one of them had a valid visa to be in India.

The Intelligence Bureau is on the lookout for 2,500 Nigerians living illegally in India.

"We suspect that many of them are brought into India by Dawood for illegal activities," an Intelligence Bureau agent told this correspondent, requesting that he not be identified by name in this report.

Photograph used only for representational purposes.