Foreign footballers under Customs scanner

The arrest of a Nigerian, who claimed to be a footballer and was carrying heroin in Guwahati a week ago, has put customs officials in Shillong, on the trail of a possible drug smuggling racket flourishing in the region with the help of foreign footballers.

The Nigerain Dike Keneth was arrested with 500 grams of heroin last Saturday from LGBI airport in Guwahati. Hidden in the buttons of ladies garments, the banned drug, estimated to cost Rs 1 crore, was being sent through a courier from Guwahati to Atlanta in the US.

"During interrogation, Keneth said that another foreign footballer, based in Kolkata, had promised him a berth at a local football club if he sends the drugs to Atlanta," North-East Commissioner of Customs Preventive S R Baruah said.

"Phone numbers have been retrieved from his mobile. It has helped us to trace several people in Mumbai, New Delhi and Kolkata," Baruah explained.

He indicated that from preliminary investigation it appeared to be a drug smuggling racket flourishing in the region and said the heroin recovery was not an isolated one. It was there for quite sometime.

"Keneth's arrest has brought more than a dozen foreign footballers playing for local clubs in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram under the Customs scanner," sources said.