This archive report was first published on 7 October 2019.
On October 7, 2019, The Times of India reported that a 36-year-old Kenyan woman, Mariam Mweke, was arrested in New Delhi after a seven-month chase.
According to Indian authorities, Mariam had shifted base to Mumbai and was allegedly coordinating her drug operations through VOIP calls and chat platforms.
She had arrived in India in 2016 on a three-month tourist visa but remained in the country after its expiry, doing odd jobs before coming into contact with another Kenyan national, Obum Favor, who introduced her to drug smuggling.
Mariam worked for Obum trafficking heroin between Delhi and Punjab before gathering her own contacts and suppliers and starting her own syndicate, police said.
She appeared on the police radar in June 2018 after officers seized one of her heroin consignments and was arrested on November 2018. She was charged and freed on bail in January 2019, but jumped bail and evaded further trial proceedings.
“On January 7, 2019, the accused was granted bail by the court in Delhi but she jumped bail and evaded further trial proceedings,” the police told India Times.
