Eight cocaine arrested by the NDLEA at Lagos, Abuja, and Enugu airports.

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

Six men and two women were arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in connection with attempts to import hundreds of cocaine pellets into Nigeria and export thousands of tramadol 255mg tablets, among other illicit drugs, to Europe via the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu, and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

According to the anti-narcotics agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the string of arrests and seizures began on July 17th, when Okwo Okechukwu, a 52-year-old father of three, was arrested upon his arrival at the Abuja airport from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia via an Ethiopian airline flight for ingesting 76 pellets of cocaine.

According to Babafemi, during preliminary interrogation, Okechukwu admitted to selling women’s wigs and hair attachments before becoming involved in the drug trade. Okechukwu passed all 76 wraps of the drug he had consumed while being monitored at the NDLEA’s Abuja facility.

Similarly, Lawrence Chijioke, 42, a father of three, was apprehended at the Abuja airport on the same day as part of an operational collaboration between the NDLEA and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

Chijioke was apprehended during an inbound clearance of an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Abeba with 529 cocaine pellets weighing 11.70 kilograms in his bag.

In his statement to anti-narcotics officers, he claimed he was promised N2 million, which he planned to use to expand his business if the cocaine shipment arrived in Abuja safely.

According to Babafemi, NDLEA agents also apprehended Ms. Onuorah Onyinye, 29, last Saturday at the Enugu airport after she arrived on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Abeba.

2.192 kilograms of cocaine were discovered hidden in two designer women’s handbags with false linings during a search of her luggage.

Attempts by drug traffickers to export various illicit drugs to Europe and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through the NAHCO export shed at the Lagos airport were also foiled, according to the spokesman.

On Monday, July 18th, operatives intercepted some illicit substances hidden in a consolidated cargo bound for Dubai, UAE, noting that other substances recovered from the cargo included BMK glycidic acid, a precursor for methamphetamine; tablets of designer drug MDMA; and another five parcels of cannabis, in addition to 24 parcels of Loud, a variant of cannabis grown primarily in the United States and Canada.
He stated that four freight agents were detained in connection with the seizure. Balogun Olamilekan, Sulaimon Yetunde, Benjamin Joel, and Omoniyi Abraham are among them.

On the same day, Monday 18th July, NDLEA operatives intercepted Tony Osas, an Italy-bound passenger, during an outward clearance of passengers on a Turkish Airlines flight to Milan, Italy.

He claimed that during a search of his luggage, Osas was discovered with the illicit substance weighing 5.70 kilograms hidden inside gari, a local cassava product, tucked inside his black handbag.

In another crackdown across the country, a driver named Jamilu Lawal was apprehended on Sunday, July 17th, along the Abuja-Kaduna express road, with 157,000 diazepam tablets weighing 37.5 kilograms. A follow-up operation that same day resulted in the arrest of the consignment’s true owner, Abubakar Isiyaku, in Katsina.

Another suspect, Isah Mohammed, was apprehended the same day in Kano as part of a follow-up operation following the interception of his consignment, 2,500 kilogrammes of rubber solution (solvent) known locally as Shalisha in Kaduna.

Four people were arrested in Abuja over 345.4 kilograms of cannabis seized in the FCT. On Monday 18th July, Mohammed Auwal, 37, Godspower John, 34, and Chukwuma Odeh, 35, were arrested in Jabi Park over a 77.7 kilogramme drug consignment.

Isah Yusuf, 25, was apprehended with 267.7 kilograms of cannabis last Saturday when operatives raided the DeiDei area of the FCT.

In Sokoto State, operatives conducting a stop-and-search operation along the Gusau-Sokoto road apprehended one Tochukwu Oranusi, who was carrying 20,100 Rohypnol tablets inside a commercial bus traveling from Onitsha, Anambra State. The vehicle also contained 15.2 litres of Codeine Syrup and 400 grammes of Rohypnol tabs, the owner of which, Buhari Sambo, was later arrested.

Azubuike Ogbanu, of Anambra State, was arrested with 76 cups of Arizona, 172 sachets of skunk, 82 pinches of methamphetamine, 20 sachets of Loud, and 10 wraps of Colorado when his base, Loren Hostel, Ifite, Awka, was raided by operatives on Thursday, July 21st.

Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd), Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, commended the officers and men of the MMIA, NAIA, AIIA, Kaduna, Sokoto, FCT, and Anambra Commands for the arrests, seizures, and tenacity, and urged them and their colleagues across the country to remain steadfast in pursuit of the agency’s goal of ridding all parts of Nigeria.