Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, have thwarted attempts by elements of “organized criminal groups” to import consignments of illicit substances into Nigeria and export same to the United Kingdom and United Arab Emirate through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja and Tincan seaport in Lagos.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Director of Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday.
In the previous week, no less than 37.5 kg of such illegal shipments were seized, and 11 individuals were detained during interdiction operations that resulted in the recovery of nearly four tons of skunk.
In an attempt to export 1.5 kilograms of skunk disguised as food to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, through the SAHCO export shed of the MMIA, freight agent Ogunsina Damilare, was detained at the Lagos airport on Friday, January 6th.
A similar attempt to export 11.5 kilograms of the same substance to the United Kingdom was unsuccessful when the shipment was intercepted by NDLEA agents from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations at the Lagos airport. Oddly, the latter had London as its final destination and came from Ghana.
A shipment of 24.5 kilograms of cannabis indica bound for Nigeria from Montreal, Canada was stopped at the Tincan port in Lagos while operatives acquired an account for the N8 million bribe the importer gave NDLEA officers. This money will be used to prosecute the case.
While the importer, Cedrick Maduweke, has not been apprehended, one of his aides, Steve Isioma Adigwe, has. The shipment arrived at the port in a container with three other old automobiles bearing the MSMU 5082733 marking.
Inside the container was a Toyota Sienna.
Five people were taken into custody in Kaduna during separate raid operations, and 3, 672 kilograms of cannabis sativa were found at two different sites.
On January 3, Edward Emmanuel, 28, and Miracle Madu were taken into custody in a warehouse in Rido village along with 298 bags of C/S weighing 3,576kg.
Investigations showed that a truck carrying petroleum products was used to transport the shipment from a southern state to Kaduna. In addition, Sanusi Isah, 30, was detained on January 7th in the Giwa area with more than 12,000 tablets of Tramadol 225mg and Diazepam.
Sunday Bassey, 29, and Jessica Daniel, 14, were also detained with 96 kg of the same material.
On January 7, NDLEA agents detained Kabiru Abdulhamid, 40, in Kano’s Semugu neighborhood with 119 blocks of C/S weighing 73 kg, while raids in Lagos state’s Festac town and Lagos Island districts netted a total of 28,400 tramadol tablets and more than 230 kg of cannabis.
Rukayyat Eshinlokun, Pelumi Alejo, and Banna Maina, a suspect with a history of distributing illegal substances while posing as a delivery rider, are just a few of the individuals detained in the raids in Lagos.
Following the discovery of 29, 800 Tramadol 225mg tablets aboard a commercial bus traveling from Owerri to Onitsha in Abia state to Aba in Imo state, a suspect, Amechi Moses, was detained in a follow-up operation on Friday, January 6.
The NDLEA’s chief executive officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), commended the officers and personnel of the Tincan, MMIA, DOGI, Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, and Imo Commands for the arrests and seizures.
He urged them to increase the pressure on Nigeria’s drug cartels while balancing their supply-side and demand-side drug-reduction initiatives.
