From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 56-year-old widow, Mrs. Ajisegiri Kehinde Sidika, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, while trying to smuggle 400grammes of cocaine concealed in her footwear to Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
Sidika, a mother of four, who claimed to be a businesswoman trading in adults and children’s wears on Lagos Island, was intercepted on Sunday, November 13, while trying to board a Qatar Airways flight going to Saudi Arabia via Doha.
A statement by the Agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed that upon a critical examination of the pair of sandals she wore, two parcels of cocaine weighing 400grammes were recovered from them.
In the same vein, attempts by a tricycle parts seller, Ayoade Kehinde Tayo, to send 1kilogramme of Tramadol 225mg, and Rohypnol to Istanbul, Turkey via Cairo on an Egypt Airline flight same day were equally frustrated by the narcotic agents, who arrested him.
He was at the airport to hand over the drugs hidden inside a bag of food items to an intending passenger, Idowu Ayoade, but was arrested before he could do that.
An intending passenger to Oman via Asky airline, Agbamuche Bright Nkeonye, and a lady, Adeoye Oluwakemi Fatimo, who accompanied him to present a bag containing varieties of foodstuffs and body lotion used to conceal 1.10kg of Cannabis and some Rohypnol capsules, were also arrested at the departure hall of the Lagos airport on Thursday last week.
Anti-narcotics officers attached to the SAHCO export shed of the airport equally foiled attempts by traffickers to smuggle consignments of cannabis and ecstasy tablets concealed in three tubers of yam to Dubai, UAE on Wednesday last week. The freight agent, who presented the yams for export, Inegbu Ugochi Akunna, was promptly arrested while the consignor, Ahmodu Sulaimon, was also nabbed thereafter.
At the Brawal container shed of Kirikiri lighter terminal in Lagos, NDLEA operatives equally intercepted cartons of deadly drinks in a container marked APZU3671697 during a joint examination with Customs officers. Although the bill of lading indicated that the container originated from Cape Town in South Africa, a search of the shippers’ database showed that it was loaded from Antwerp in Belgium.
A full inspection of the container on Thursday last week showed that five cartons of beverages labeled as euphoria cannabis beer and three cartons of cannabis energy drink were found. Other drinks in the container included 21 cartons of a drink labeled as monkey shoulder; 20 cartons of dead man’s finger; and 139 cartons of champagne fruit, among others.
In a related development, not less than 5.6 kilograms of methamphetamine, cocaine and tramadol were discovered in items like play station, bicycles, motor propeller and local fabrics packaged for export to Australia and Cyprus, through some courier firms in Lagos. Two suspects, Gabriel Emeka and Vintura Grillo, have been arrested during a follow up operation linked to one of the seizures.
In Niger State, NDLEA operatives on stop and search operation along Mokwa-Jebba Road on Saturday, November 12, arrested two suspects; Ismail Musa and Jidda Abbas with 10,780 bottles of Akuskura, a new psychoactive substance concealed inside two Toyota Camry saloon cars marked AGL 861 GS Lagos and KMK 118 SC Bayelsa. The consignment loaded in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, was going to Abuja for distribution.
While NDLEA operatives intercepted 25,000 capsules of Tramadol in Plateau, and arrested the owner, Ifeanyi Nweanwe, a beer parlour operator, during a follow up operation in Bauchi State; pharmaceutical opioids worth over N30 million were intercepted on a commercial bus in Asaba, Delta State on Thursday last week.
In Ondo State, NDLEA operatives stormed the Ijare Forest in Ifedore Local Government Area on Friday last week and recovered 600.5kgs of cannabis weed and seeds, while 142.8kgs of the same substance were seized when the officers raided Zone 3 Motor Park in Wuse area of Abuja. Also, operatives on routine stop and search patrol along Owerri-Onitsha Road arrested a suspect, Nwankwo Emmanuel, with 25 blocks of cannabis sativa, weighing 12.5kgs in a commercial bus going to Port Harcourt from Lagos.
Reacting to the arrests and seizures in the past week, Chairman and Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (Retd), commended the officers and men of the MMIA, Tincan Ports, Delta State, FCT, Niger State, Ondo State, and Plateau State Commands, as well as those of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI), for their passion, commitment and remarkable efforts to get results in their areas of responsibility. He enjoined them and their compatriots across the country to stay focused and resilient in the pursuit of the agency’s corporate goal.