BY BRIGHT JACOB
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency on Sunday revealed that crooked attempts by drug syndicates to export illicit substances, including various quantities of methamphetamine and opioids concealed in hems of new jeans trousers, dolls, buttons, local soap and tins of milo beverage to Europe, United Arab Emirate and Asia have been thwarted by its operatives of at some courier firms in Lagos.
Some of the consignments intercepted by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation at courier houses in Lagos include tramadol 225mg concealed in hems of new jeans trousers heading to Cyprus; shipment of cannabis sativa hidden in heads of dolls going to Dubai, UAE; sachets of tramadol 225mg buried in tins of milo beverage going to UAE and another set of the same drug hidden in local soap also going to UAE, as well as a consignment of methamphetamine concealed in buttons heading to Hong Kong.
The spokesperson for the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, revealed in a statement on Sunday.
He further noted that a shipment of another illicit substance coming from Florida, USA, was equally intercepted at a courier firm while the recipient, Daniel Ogi, was tracked by NDLEA officers and arrested at 5 Akeem Shittu Street, Ajao Estate Lagos on Friday, 24th November 2023.
Meanwhile, operatives in Lagos on Friday, December 1, also arrested a drug kingpin, Okechukwu Ogala, 56, who specialises in exploiting and recruiting young citizens to export meth to Asian countries. He was arrested at the Blue Moon Hotel in the Okota area of Lagos with 60 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.009 kilograms.
In another operation in Lagos, operatives on Friday, December 1, recovered 393kgs of cannabis in a shop at Akala, Mushin while a suspect, Justin Enuonye, who deals in Canadian Loud was arrested by the police at Victoria Island and transferred to Lagos Command of NDLEA on Friday, December 1 with 154 parcels weighing 92kgs.
Babafemi further revealed that a team of NDLEA operatives also intercepted a vehicle at the Oyingbo area of Lagos and recovered 108kgs of cannabis from it, while 675 kilograms of the same substance were recovered from the store of a wanted dealer, Wahab Olota, at the Adedoja area of Mushin, Lagos.
He added, “In Edo, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday 29th November stormed the Ujiogba forest, Esan West LGA where they recovered 5,988 kilograms of cannabis already processed and ready for distribution while a 22-year-old, Mson Bunde, (a.k.a Tete Peter Joseph) found in a hut on the cannabis farm was arrested.
“No less than 120,000 capsules of tramadol concealed in new sound systems packed in a Jos, Plateau state-bound bus were seized by NDLEA officers acting on intelligence along Onitsha-Awka road, Anambra State on Monday, November 27, while 123 blocks of cannabis weighing 73kgs were recovered from a suspect, Abdullahi Bello along Gombe-Bauchi road, Gombe state on Wednesday, November 29, operatives in Abuja seized 168 blocks of the same psychoactive substance with a total weight of 101kgs from the store of a fleeing drug dealer in Kabusa area of the FCT.”
Meanwhile, no fewer than 8,000 bottles of codeine syrup were recovered by NDLEA operatives on Friday, December 1, when they intercepted a vehicle transporting the opioid along Abuja- Kaduna road, with the driver, Shamsu Isiyaku and his conductor, Muhammad Maina arrested. The same day, operatives also arrested Ernest Esechie, 30, with 44.4 kilogrammes of compressed cannabis sativa along Gwantu- Sanga road, Kaduna.
In Kogi, NDLEA officers arrested Ahmad Umar, 18, with 46.4kgs cannabis at a checkpoint in Kabba, while Jamilu Zakari, 32, was nabbed at Kofar Idi, Kandahar, Bauchi town, Bauchi state with 125 blocks of the same substance that weighed 146kgs. At least, 542.3kgs of cannabis were recovered from a suspect, Festus Egeogoli, 32, when his base at Jakpa road, Warri, Delta state was raided by NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, November 29, while 125.9kgs of the same substance were also seized from a store in the same area.
