- Iran-bound drug mule excretes 76 wraps of cocaine at Kano airport
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have intercepted a total of N25 million pills of tapentadol, an opioid three times stronger than tramadol and 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup at the Tincan port complex in Lagos.
NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement on Sunday that the seizures were made on Tuesday 17 and Friday 20 September 2024 from three containers which had been on the watch list of the Agency following processed intelligence.
As a result, he said the NDLEA had requested for 100% joint examination of the shipments with men of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.
The N25 million pills of tapentadol have an estimated street value of N13.725 billion while the codeine consignment has an estimated street value of N2.450 million, bringing the total value of the seizures to N16.175 billion.
The tapentadol consignment packed in 500 cartons was discovered in one of the containers on Tuesday 17th September while another container examined the same day contained 175,000 bottles of Barcadin cough syrup with codeine packed in 875 cartons.
Babafemi said the third container containing 175,000 bottles of CSC cough syrup with codeine was examined on Friday 20th September.
Meanwhile, he added that operatives of the Lagos State Strategic Command of the Agency on Friday 20th September arrested an 80-year-old grandfather, Aremu Shojobi with 14 kilograms of cannabis at his home in Iyana Ipaja area of the state.
In his statement, Babafemi said the octogenarian claimed he has been in the business of selling illicit drugs for 25 years. He further claimed he gets his supplies from the Benin Republic, and sells to his customers from his residence between 7am and 10pm every day.
In the same vein, he said NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Wednesday 18th September raided the two homes of a community leader and Sarkin Yamma of Badagry West LCDA, Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Talba, where a total of 226kg of cannabis was recovered from his two wives and son. Though Alhaji Talba is currently at large, a search of his house in Ashipa area of Seme Badagry led to the recovery of 93 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 57.6kg from his first wife, Asma’u Bashiru, 35, and son, Sadat Bashiru, 22, while another search of his house at Aketegbo area of Seme Badagry led to the seizure of 302 compressed blocks of cannabis weighing 168.6kg from his second wife Hauwa Bashir, 42.
Not less than 720 blocks of Arizona, a strain of cannabis weighing 390kg were also recovered from a Mitsubishi delivery van marked MUS 720 XH at Ojo area of Lagos on Monday 16th September.
At the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, NDLEA operatives on Sunday 15th September arrested a 38-year-old drug mule, Okafor Ifeanyi Anthony while attempting to board a Qatar Airlines flight to Iran via Doha with 76 wraps of cocaine in his stomach.
After three days in excretion observation, Okafor excreted the 76 pellets of the ingested cocaine weighing 1.267kg.
In Kogi State, NDLEA officers on patrol along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway on Tuesday 17th September recovered 700,000 pills of exol-5 coming from Lagos for distribution in Kano and Kaduna, while a suspect Udemefuna Chibuike, 23, was arrested by operatives on Friday 20th September along Mokwa-Jebba road, Niger state, in possession of 49,000 tablets of tramadol, 20,000 tablets of diazepam, 100 ampoules of tramadol injection and 50 bottles of cough syrup with codeine.
Babafemi explained further that a total of 451 blocks of cannabis weighing 213kg were intercepted along Azikiwe road, Port Harcourt, Rivers state on Wednesday 18th September, by NDLEA officers who apprehended a suspect Ogochukwu Paul, 33, conveying the consignment to a notorious drug haven in Borikiri.
While operatives in Plateau State on Friday 20th September arrested a wanted suspect Jonathan Ali Abuttur, 46, at Agingi- Rukuba road Bassa LGA in possession of 808kg of cannabis sativa concealed in 68 bags of sugar and fertilizer, their counterparts in Kwara also nabbed Shaibu Musa with 28kg of the same psychoactive substance.
