The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a Brazil returnee, Udechukwu Ekene Theophilus at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) , Ikeja, Lagos for ingesting 60 big wraps of cocaine.
Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi confirmed the arrest of the suspect in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
The statement said the suspect was arrested on Sunday, January 21, 2024 during inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the D-Arrival Hall of the Lagos airport.
Babafemi said the suspect initially refused to undergo body scan, raising health concerns in a desperate bid to evade arrest.
“When he was however offered other options, he accepted to be placed on excretion observation and shortly after he was ushered into NDLEA observatory, he excreted the first set of cocaine pellets, after which he expelled a total of 60 wraps of the class A drug weighing 1.279 kilograms in five excretions.
“In his statement, Udechukwu claimed he ingested the consignment in Brazil and was to discharge everything at the airport in Addis Ababa but could only excrete 15 pellets which he handed over to another member of his syndicate before his connecting flight to Nigeria was called,” Babafemi explained.
The NDLEA said its operatives at the Lagos airport on Tuesday 23rd January recovered a total of twelve (12) cartons of tramadol 225mg containing five hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred (599,900) pills weighing 385.40kg from an overstayed cargo at the SAHCO import shed of the Lagos airport after a joint examination with other agencies.
“The tramadol consignment had come into the country in two batches on KLM Royal Dutch Airline flights from Karachi, Pakistan between 27th July and 1st August 2023.
“They were ,however, placed under watch by NDLEA operatives since then.
“Not less than 822 kilograms of cannabis sativa hidden in a fuel station located at Ashipa community along Badagry-Seme road were recovered by operatives of the Seme Special Area Command of NDLEA, while a suspect Sani Audu, 35, was arrested with 111.3kg of same substance at Maigatari town in Jigawa State on Tuesday 23rd January.
” In Yobe State, two suspects ; Mohammed Usman and Adamu Ma’azu were arrested on Saturday 27th January with 49 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 50kg at Damaturu motor park, Damaturu, while the duo of Paul Obor, 38, and Dennis Fuokorighe, 48, who were arrested on Wednesday 24th Jan. at a Navy check point, Itobe, Ofu LGA, Kogi state with 318 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 190.8kg concealed in a gold colour Honda Accord Car marked RBC 449AE, were handed over to the Kogi State command of the Agency on Friday 26th Jan. by men of the Nigeria Navy Ship, Lugard, Lokoja.
“In Kano, a suspect, Shamwilu Idris, 29, was arrested at Gadar Tamburawa area on Thursday 25th January with 271kg cannabis following the seizure of an abandoned 28.1kg of same substance at Rijiyar Lemo area of the state on Wednesday 24th January.
“Another suspect, Abubakar Haruna Salisu, 24, was nabbed at Kotun Wambai, Yan Awaki, area of Kano on Friday 26th January with 600 bottles of codeine-based syrup while a total of 1, 306 blocks of cannabis weighing 886kg seized by the Police at Kwanar Dangora, area of the state were transferred to the Agency on Wednesday 24th Jan.
“A total of 87 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 73kg as well as 21, 346 pills of tramadol and 3,800 tablets of diazepam were recovered from a suspect, Musa Galadima on Friday 26th January when his DAF truck marked GME 971 XD was intercepted at Lafiyawo, along Gombe – Bauchi road by NDLEA operatives.
“In Plateau State, Aminu Ubanta, 35, was nabbed on Saturday 27th January with 5.355kg cannabis at Layin Zana area of Jos,” the statement said.
” Two members of an international drug trafficking syndicate: Sunday Michael Owoborode, 52, and Valentine Anene were arrested the next day Thursday 25th January at Edu Orita, Ogun state where Valentine was being prepared to travel with some drugs to Qatar same day on board a Qatar airline flight from Lagos.
“At the time of their arrest, 1.8kg cannabis, electronic weighing scale and other illicit substances were found on them.
“In another interdiction operation by operatives in Lagos, a 50-year-old Sunday Adediran, was arrested on Wednesday 24th January with 20kg cannabis sativa found in one of the rooms in his house at Mushin Olosha,” the statement said.
The NDLEA also stated that its various commands during the reporting period and with the same vigour, intensified the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign across the country.
It said some activities carried out during the week included WADA sensitization lecture for students of Government Day Primary and Secondary School, Jiddel Michika, Adamawa State; students of Soltab Comprehensive College, Abeokuta, Ogun State; pupils and teachers of Sangotedo Primary School, Ajah, Lagos state and pupils and teachers of ADS Basic Primary School 1&2, Ogbomoso, Oyo State.
Others are students and teachers of Farfanu Malami community secondary school, Magama Jibia, Katsina state; and WADA advocacy visit to His Royal Highness, Dr. Gibson Nwabueze Nwosu, Eze Uzu 11 of Awka, Anambra state, among others.
In his reaction to the arrests and seizures , the Chairman/CEO of the NDLEA, retired Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa
commended the officers and men of the MMIA, Lagos, Seme, Kano, Gombe, Kogi, Plateau and Jigawa Commands of the Agency for their outstanding feats in the past week.
Marwa equally applauded their counterparts in all the commands across the country for intensifying their WADA advocacy lectures , thus creating a balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction activities. (vitalnewsngr.com)
