From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arrested a trans-border drug dealer, Pastor Anietie Okon Effiong, with three drums of crystal methamphetamine, locally called Mkpuru Mmiri, believed to have been imported from India.
The consignment weighing 90 kilograms and loaded into a commercial bus with registration number RSH 691XC, at Ojuelegba, in Lagos, was intercepted during a stop-and-search operation, along Umuahia – Ikot Ekpene highway, on Saturday, August 6, 2022.
A statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the dangerous drug packed 30 kilogram in each drum was meant for Pastor Anietie Okon Effiong, who was arrested in a follow up operation at Oron Beach in Oron.
The recovered meth drums, the statement noted, were meant for onward delivery to the Republic of Cameroon. This came on the heels of four seizures of the same illicit substance weighing 4.074kg going to Australia, Indonesia and Philippines with three kilograms of cannabis sativa heading to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at some courier companies in Lagos. The consignments were concealed in body cream, hot burner iron and beads.
Meanwhile, in Sokoto, a 90-year-old retired soldier, Usman Adamu, was arrested last Wednesday, in Mailalle, Sabon Birni LGA, for supplying bandits illicit drugs. At the time of his arrest, the suspect was caught with 5.1kg cannabis sativa.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, a 37-year-old indigene of Ovia LGA, Edo State and resident in Italy; Solo Osamede has been arrested for ingesting 41 wraps of heroin. He was nabbed and taken into custody for excretion while attempting to board a Turkish Airline flight to Milan, Italy, via Istanbul, Turkey, on Saturday, July 30. The swallowed wraps of the illicit drug were recovered in four excretions, which the suspect completed last Monday.
In the same vein, a female passenger, Jatau Lydia Lami, was arrested at the Lagos airport for attempting to export 1,700 tablets of tramadol 225mg concealed in her luggage to Istanbul, Turkey, via a Turkish Airline flight, penultimate Sunday.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect, a mother of three, hails from Zango Kataf LGA, Kaduna State, and lives in Istanbul, Turkey, with her family. She blamed her action on pressure to raise N5 million ransom to free her mother from the captivity of bandits who kidnapped her in June.
Also, at the SAHCO export shed of the airport, attempts by some freight agents to export two consignments of cannabis in a consolidated cargo to Dubai, UAE, last Thursday, were thwarted by NDLEA operatives, who have arrested two of them in follow up operations. They are: Oladipupo Oladapo Fatai and Animashaun Qudus, while two others are still at large.
In Zamfara, NDLEA operatives last Thursday, intercepted a truck from Benin, Edo state, en route Sokoto, with 50,000 tablets of diazepam owned by a drug dealer, Umaru Attahiru, while in Kogi, 14 sacks containing 1,376 bottles of codeine-based syrup, weighing 190.4kg, were seized along Okene-Abuja highway, last Wednesday. The exhibits were found in a delivery bus coming from Onitsha, Anambra and heading to Abuja. Follow up operation in Abuja, same day, led to the arrest of Jude Ikenna and Ozoemene Cornelius.
In Kaduna, four suspects: Sulaiman Rabi’u; Sanusi Sha’aibu; Ma’aruf Habibu and Christian Nnachor, were arrested in Zaria, Tafa and Romi, Kaduna, with 106, 770 tablets of tramadol 225mg, diazepam, exol-5 and 100 bottles of codeine cough syrup.
In Enugu, 143.5kg cannabis sativa was recovered from locked up stores in the new market area of the state capital, on Saturday, while in Delta, a suspect, Ike Okparachi, 42, was arrested at Abraka Junction, Asaba, with 10,550 tablets of tramadol 225mg; swinol; rohypnol; and 3,105 bottles of codeine syrup as well as 69grams of molly.
Chairman of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (retd), commended the officers and men of the Akwa Ibom, MMIA, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kogi, Delta, Enugu, and Kaduna Commands of the agency, as well as those of the Directorate of Operation and General Investigation (DOGI) for their recent feats. He charged them and others across the country to remain focused and vigilant.