By Emma Njoku
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 40-year-old Spain-based ‘businessman’, Sherif Egbo, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, while attempting to board an Air France flight to Paris, France, after they discovered he ingested illicit drugs.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, who made the disclosure in a statement, yesterday, said Egbo was arrested on Saturday, October 14, after a body scanner revealed he had wraps of illicit drugs in his stomach. He was subsequently placed under observation at the agency’s exhibit recovery room where he excreted 93 pellets of heroin weighing 2.222 kilograms.
“In his statement, the suspect claimed he works at a chicken hatchery farm in Madrid, Spain and also into drug trafficking business.
In the same vein, NDLEA operatives at the NAHCO imports shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, last Monday, seized a consignment of 10 cartons containing 500,000 pills of tramadol 225mg branded as tapentadol. The cargo, which was shipped from India through Qatar Airways with air waybill number MAWB 319-01227236, was purported to be a transit cargo to Monrovia, Liberia. However, the lid was blown open through partnership and real time intelligence sharing mechanisms between NDLEA and its Liberian counterpart.
“Also, attempt by an intending passenger to Muscat, Oman on Qatar airways, Ngene Chinecherem Oscar, to export 11.100kgs of skunk and 600grams of tramadol concealed in foodstuffs through the Lagos airport, was thwarted by NDLEA officers who arrested him and seized the illicit substances,” Babafemi stated.
In another operation, NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI), attached to courier companies on Sunday, October 15, intercepted 1kg methamphetamine concealed in containers of body cream going to New Zealand, as well as another consignment of 2.5kgs cocaine and phenacetin hidden in walls of a carton heading to Saudi Arabia.
Two more seizures: 112grams of Dimethyl Sulfone and 583grams of cocaine and phenacetin were made at another courier company in Lagos, last Wednesday. While the dimethyl sulfone was concealed in the hollow of a motor driving shaft going to New Zealand, the consignment of cocaine and phenacetin was packed into a bottle of body cream heading to Saudi Arabia.
In Imo State, operatives on Sunday, October 15, intercepted a Mercedes Benz container truck marked ABN 418 YN parked in an isolated area, along Owerri – Onitsha expressway. A search of the abandoned truck led to the recovery of 168 bags of skunk weighing 1, 854 kilograms.
Not less than 1,381.3kgs of the same substance were seized in four interdiction operations in parts of Edo State, including: Ekpon community, Igueben LGA; Iguiye forest in Ovia North East LGA; Iruekpen, Ndokwa West, where a suspect, Monday Samuel Nwocha, was arrested and Egwalor village in Onwude LGA, where the duo of Obune Prince and Chika Obi was arrested and their Audi 80 saloon car marked BEN 406 CL loaded with cannabis sativa, recovered.
In Kano State, an ex-convict, Aminu Suleiman, 46, was arrested along with Haruna Abdurrahaman, 41, and Ojo Joseph Esezobor, 34, at the Gadar Tamburawa area of the state, on Saturday, October 14, while 106kgs of cannabis were recovered from them. Aminu was first arrested with 22kgs of cannabis on June 3, 2022 and convicted by the court on November 24, 2022. Four other suspects: Inusa Fugu Ali, Yahaya Musa, Abba Audu, Ali Abubakar, and Bunu Kyari, were also arrested at the Gadar Tamburawa area of Kano, last Monday, for dealing in 75.3kgs of skunk.
While operatives of the Zone J Command of the agency seized 478kgs of cannabis in a forest in Ikere Ekiti, last Friday, those of Ondo State command recovered a total of 928kgs of the same substance in a bush by Shagari market, along Ifon-Owo express road, and Ibola camp, Ipele forest. In Borno State, a suspect, Sani Mohammed, 31, was arrested last Saturday, with 182kgs of cannabis at Njimtilo, along Maiduguri – Damaturu road.
Commands across the 36 states and the FCT equally continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA), sensitisation lectures in schools, communities, work places and others. Some of these include: WADA sensitisation lecture for students of Ogborhill Secondary School, Aba, Abia State; WADA sensitisation lecture to students of Nana Aisha Memorial Islamiyya Secondary School, Buba-Shongo, Gombe; WADA sensitisation lecture at Awe High School, Awe, same at Smiles and Surprises Academy, Onna, Akwa Ibom; WADA sensitisation lecture for students of Sango High School, Ijoko, Ogun State, while the Zone C Command of NDLEA, along with Kwara State command also had WADA sensitisation town hall meeting with principals of secondary schools from five local government areas of the state.
Commending the arrests and seizures of the past week by officers and men of the NAIA, MMIA, Imo, Ondo, Kano, Edo, Zone J Commands as well as those of DOGI, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd) charged them and their compatriots across all formations of the agency to continue to remain vigilant and double their efforts, especially with the desperation of criminal networks to make money by all means towards the end of the year season.