A 27-year-old man, Madu Chukwuemeka Miracle was on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, arrested by operatives of the Mational Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu in Enugu State on arrival from Nairobi, Kenya via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, when he was found with 76 cocaine-made soap bars in his luggage.
Disclosing this in a statement on Sunday, October 30, the Agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the 76 cocaine soap bars were discovered in the suspect’s three bags during a search.
Another bag was also discovered to have two plastic bottles containing cream like liquid, which tested positive to cocaine.
The cocaine bars were said to have weighed 10.650 kilogrammes while the liquid cocaine weighs 2.496 kilogrammes, bringing the total weight to 13.146 kilogrammes.
Also, the village head of Gidan Abba in Bodinga Local Government Area of Sokoto State, Abubakar Ibrahim, was among 11 suspects arrested in operations which yielded recovery of 991,320 pills of pharmaceutical opioids, 1,251kg of cannabis and khat, as well as 46.637 kilogrammes of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin across seven states.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos, NDLEA operatives attached to the SAHCO import shed on Wednesday, October 26, intercepted a total of 15 cartons containing 802,000 pills of Tramadol imported from Dubai, UAE and Karachi, Pakistan.
Ten cartons of Tramadol 225mg also came in from Dubai on Ethiopian Airlines flight, while four cartons of 100mg and a carton of 225mg Tramadol came from Karachi, Pakistan on another Ethiopian Airlines flight.
On the same day, operatives at the SAHCO export shed intercepted cans of tomato paste going to the United Kingdom.
A thorough search of the consignment revealed that the tomato cans were used to conceal 36 pellets of cannabis with a gross weight of 21.30 kilogrammes, leading to the arrest of a cargo agent, Sodehinde Akinwale, in connection with the seizure.
On Friday, October 28, operatives attached to the NAHCO import shed of the Lagos airport seized five cartons of dried khat leaves, weighing 107.70kg that came in from Bangkok, Thailand through Dubai on an Emirates Airline flight.
A follow up operation on the seizure of 11.90kg Methamphetamine concealed in the heads of dried fish going to Dubai, UAE on August 5 equally led to the arrest of a 30-year-old bricklayer, Babatunde Quadri Mamowora ,on Thursday, October 27, at Sango Ota area of Ogun State,
in collaboration with men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).
In Kogi State, NDLEA operatives on stop-and-search operation along Okene-Abuja highway intercepted a Chisco branded bus coming from Lagos to Abuja on Thursday October 27, with a consignment of 32.9kgs Meth packaged as tubers of yam; 376 grammes of cocaine and 215 grammes of heroin.
The bus driver, Chief Pascal Chigozie Nmaram, was promptly arrested.
A follow-up operation in Abuja same day led to the arrest of the recipient of the illicit cargo, Mr. Ikenna Jude Akunne, who confessed he was detailed to travel with the consignment to Spain the following day, Friday, October 28, through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.
Meanwhile, operatives of the state command of the Agency destroyed five hectares of cannabis farms at Agbonkete, Iyaya Camp, Igalamela/Odolu LGA, where a suspect, Augustine Agbenyo, 34, was arrested with three sacks of both fresh and dried leaves and stems of the illicit substance.
Operatives seized 146,000 pills of Tramadol 225mg in a buy and bust operation in Oshodi area of Lagos State on Tuesday, October 25, while the village head of Gidan Abba village, in Bodinga Local Government Area of Sokoto State, Abubakar Ibrahim, 38, was arrested in Bodinga town same day with 3kgs of cannabis sativa and 4,000 tablets of exol-5.
In the FCT, operatives on patrol along Kwali-Abuja highway on Monday 24th October intercepted a truck with 915.8kilograms of cannabis and arrested three suspects: Kabiru Ibrahim, 40; Muhammad Muawiyya, 30, and Adamu Adamu, 24.
In Adamawa state, operatives arrested two trans-border traffickers, Abdullahi Mamuda (aka Mama) and Aliyu Abdullahi (aka Garga) at Skylight Hotel in Jambutu, Yola North.
A search of their vehicle, an ash coloured Toyota Corolla car with registration number JMT 146 TE (Adamawa), revealed 39, 320 tablets of Tramadol 225mg concealed in different compartments of the doors of the car.
Preliminary investigation shows the trans-border traffickers took off from Onitsha in Anambra State and travelled to Jimeta, Adamawa State where they lodged in the hotel before heading to Belel, a town along the Nigerian – Cameroon border where they would repackage the drugs as ordinary consumables and ferry across the river to Garoa in Cameroon.
Operatives in Ondo state on Friday 28th October stormed a 2-bedroom building in Uso town, where they arrested one Okon Etim, 45, with 12 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 207kgs.
Reacting to the strings of arrests and seizures in the past week across Kogi, Lagos, Sokoto, Adamawa, Ondo and the FCT as well as the MMIA and AIIA Commands of the Agency, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), CON, OFR, commended the officers and men of the various commands for their unrelenting commitment to the presidential mandate to clear Nigerian forests and communities of illicit drugs in whatever form.
He charged them to remain steadfast and upright at all times.
