India: Nigerian drug peddler refuses to be deported, makes Indian prison break
A Nigerian drug peddler does not want to set foot on his native country’s soil anymore.
John Okoro was reportedly convicted of selling banned substances in India in 2014 and was sentenced to jail. He had completed his jail term and was due for deportation to Nigeria.
He however defied the odds, breaking out of the Indian Anti-Narcotics Cell custody after he had deceitfully sought permission to step out of the detention room.
He had told authorities he needed to use the toilet on the first floor of the agency’s Azad Maidan office around 2am on Monday.
In his desperate attempt to escape, Okoro jumped from the balcony, crashing through the asbestos roof and fled on foot.
The constable guarding him reportedly sustained injuries as he also leaped from the balcony while trying to seize the fleeing man. He is recovering at the Nagpada police hospital.
The Azad Maidan office from which Okoro escaped is barely 15 feet from the local police station. The office shares a wall with the police station’s detection room. The Esplanade court is in the same compound.
Okoro, 35, has been declared wanted by the Anti-Narcotics authorities. He was described as wearing a blue shirt, blue jeans and slippers when he escaped James Bond-style.
Fresh charges stemming from his daring escape have been registered at the Azad Maidan police again.
Okoro would rather be a fugitive in India, than experience economic recession in Nigeria, or so it seems.
