Gilbert Onuoha (44), a Nigerian national, last Saturday after he allegedly tried to courier around 1 kg of heroin

Gilbert Onuoha (44), a Nigerian national, last Saturday after he allegedly tried to courier around 1 kg of heroin from a local courier service in Mira Road to South Africa.The seized contraband is believed to be worth Rs 50 lakh in the international market. Onuoha is the first person to be arrested by the Mumbai police for attempting to smuggle drugs through a courier service. The local courier forwarded the consignment to a reputed courier firm in Andheri (E), where suspicious employees tipped off the police. One of the two packages had two photo frames stuffed with the narcotic.The other package had heroin stuffed into 22 motorcycles footrests. Gilbert was called and subsequently arrested at the office of the courier service. Deputy Commissioner of Police (ANC) Vishwas Nagre Patil said the contraband was wrapped neatly in small polythene packets, and covered with a layer of carbon paper and adhesive tape, making it impervious to the scrutiny of X-ray scanners, and security monitors."The parcel had the address and mobile number of a woman in Cape Town, South Africa, jotted on it," said Assistant Police Inspector P N Kamble. The address was subsequently found to be fake. Gilbert, a native of Anambra, Nigeria, is a school dropout and has been in India for the last six months on a business visa.
Gilbert told the police that his friend of two years, Ken, paid him Rs 4,000 to courier the parcel, and promised to pay him another Rs 50,000 once the consignment reached its destination.