A suspected cocaine trafficking cartel headed by a couple, Bolanle Lookman Dauda and Olayinka Toheebat Dauda, has been smashed in Lagos and Ogun states by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
In a statement signed by the agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the couple were found with multi-billion Naira worth of the illicit drugs, recovered in two major operations, following the arrest of the kingpin and his queen, in one of the intelligence-led raids.
The duo were arrested on Saturday, May 25, 2024, by operatives of a special operation unit in NDLEA, with the support of the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States, at Ibiye, along the Lagos-Badagry motorway, while attempting to cross the land border to deliver the consignment in Ghana.
At the point of their arrest, 42 blocks of the Class A drug weighing 47.5 kilogrammes were found on them.
A swift follow-up operation in their residence at Plot 24/25 OPIC Extension, Petedo Road, Agbara, Ogun State, led to the recovery of an additional eight blocks of the same drug weighing 10 kg, bringing the total weight of the cocaine seized from the couple to 57.5 kilogrammes.
In another raid by the Special Operations Unit, no fewer than 1,100 ampoules of lethal synthetic opioid fentanyl, weighing 6.48 kg, were recovered from a member of a suspected drug trafficking syndicate, 34-year-old Ikeh Stanley Ifeanyi, at the popular Idumota market in Lagos Island.
Over 700 ampoules of the dangerous opioid weighing 5.273 kg were equally seized from another member of the fentanyl syndicate, 48-year-old Chieze Ogechukwu Benjamin, who was also arrested at Idumota Market.
Babafemi added that fentanyl, a lethal synthetic opioid that is 100 times more potent than heroin, is currently responsible for over 70% of overdose deaths, as well as being a major contributor to fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the US.
Two other persons, Olayiwola Aremu Kazeem, 37, and Ogunfowora Taofik Ajibola, 35, were arrested on Lagos Island in a different raid by NDLEA officers, with 432 grammes of methamphetamine recovered from them.
At the Tincan port in Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted 15 parcels of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing 7.5 kg concealed in the doors and body crevices of a Toyota Highlander SUV, in a container marked MSMU 7294325.
The container was declared to contain three units of used vehicles, including the Toyota Highlander, which originated in Toronto and was shipped to Nigeria via Montreal, Canada.
A swift follow-up operation led to the arrest of two suspects: Sunday Sodade and Oriyomi Adesina, who were to receive the vehicle and the drug consignment.
A bribe of six million Naira offered to NDLEA officers by the sender of the container based in Canada through his agent has also been registered as an exhibit for the prosecution of the case.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
