A 56-year-old widow and mother of four, Ajisegiri Kehinde Sidika has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja in Lagos State, South-West Nigeria over her attempt to traffic 400 grams of Cocaine concealed in her footwear to Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi in a statement said, the suspect who claims to be a businesswoman trading in adults and children’s wears on Lagos Island was intercepted on Sunday, November 13 while trying to board a Qatar Airways flight going to Saudi Arabia via Doha. Upon a critical examination of the pair of sandals she was wearing, two parcels of Cocaine weighing 400 grams were recovered from them.
In the same vein, attempts by a tricycle parts seller, Ayoade Kehinde Tayo to send one kilogramme of Tramadol 225mg and Rohypnol to Istanbul, Turkey via Cairo on an Egypt Airline flight on the same day were also frustrated by NDLEA operatives who arrested him.
He was at the airport to hand over the drugs hidden inside a bag of food items to an intending passenger, Idowu Ayoade but was arrested before he succeeded in doing that.
An intending passenger to Oman via Asky airline, Agbamuche Bright Nkeonye and a lady, Adeoye Oluwakemi Fatimo who accompanied him to present a bag containing varieties of foodstuffs and body lotion which were used to conceal 1.10 kilogrammes of Cannabis and some Rohypnol capsules were also arrested at the Departure Hall of the Lagos airport on Thursday, November 18.
Anti-narcotics officers attached to the SAHCO Export Shed of the airport equally foiled attempts by traffickers to smuggle consignments of Cannabis and Ecstasy tablets concealed in three tubers of yam going to Dubai, UAE on Wednesday, November 17. The freight agent who presented the yams for export, Inegbu Ugochi Akunna was promptly arrested while the consignor, Ahmodu Sulaimon was also nabbed thereafter.
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At the Brawal container shed of Kirikiri Lighter Terminal in Lagos, NDLEA operatives equally intercepted cartons of deadly drinks in a container marked APZU3671697 during a joint examination with Customs. Though the bill of landing indicated that the container originated from Cape town, South Africa, a search of the the shippers’ database showed it was loaded from Antwerp, Belgium. A full inspection of the container on Thursday, November 18 showed a total of five cartons of beverages labeled as Euphoria Cannabis beer and three cartons of Cannabis energy drink were found. Other drinks in the container include 21 cartons of a drink labeled as monkey shoulder; 20 cartons of dead man’s finger; and 139 of champagne fruit, among others.
In a related development, not less than 5.6 kilogrammes of Methamphetamine, Cocaine and Tramadol were discovered in items like play station, bicycles, motor propeller and local fabrics packaged for export to Australia and Cyprus through some courier firms in Lagos.
Two suspects, Gabriel Emeka and Vintura Grillo have been arrested in a follow up operation linked to one of the seizures.
In Niger State in North-Central Nigeria, NDLEA operatives on stop-and-search operation along Mokwa-Jebba Road on Saturday, November 12 arrested two suspects; Ismail Musa and Jidda Abbas with 10,780 bottles of Akuskura, a new psychoactive substance concealed inside two Toyota Camry saloon cars marked AGL 861 GS Lagos and KMK 118 SC Bayelsa. The consignment loaded in Ibadan, Oyo state, South-West Nigeria was going to Abuja for distribution.
While operatives intercepted 25,000 capsules of Tramadol in Plateau and arrested the owner who is a beer parlour operator in a follow up operation in Bauchi State, North-East Nigeria, pharmaceutical opioids worth more than N30 million were intercepted in a commercial bus in Asaba, Delta state on Thursday, November 18.
In Ondo state, South-West Nigeria operatives stormed the Ijare forest, in Ifedore LGA on Friday, November 19 where a total of 600.5 kilogrammes of Cannabis weed and seeds were recovered, while 142.8 kilogrammes of the same substance were seized when NDLEA officers raided the Zone 3 Motor Park in Wuse area of Abuja.
In the same vein, operatives on routine stop-and-search patrol along Owerri-Onitsha Road arrested a suspect, Nwankwo Emmanuel, with 25 blocks of Cannabis sativa weighing 12.5 kilogrammes in a commercial bus going to Port Harcourt from Lagos.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
