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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) reported the arrest of a 40-year-old ‘businessman’ named Sherif Egbo at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
According to NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi, a body scanner revealed that Egbo had concealed wraps of illicit drugs in his stomach. On October 14, he was apprehended while trying to board an Air France flight to Paris, France, after anti-narcotics agents discovered he had ingested illicit drugs.
He was subsequently placed under observation at the agency’s exhibit recovery room, where he excreted 93 pellets of heroin, totaling 2.222 kilograms. The suspect claimed to work at a chicken hatchery farm in Madrid, Spain, and also be involved in the drug trafficking business.
At the NAHCO imports shed of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, NDLEA officials seized a consignment of 10 cartons containing 500,000 pills of tramadol 225mg branded as tapentadol on Monday, October 16. The cargo was shipped from India through Qatar Airways with airwaybill number MAWB 319-01227236, and it was purported to be a transit cargo to Monrovia, Liberia. However, the collaboration and real-time intelligence sharing between NDLEA and its Liberian counterpart uncovered the deception.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives prevented an attempt by an intending passenger, Ngene Chinecherem, to export 11.100 kilograms of skunk and 600 grams of tramadol concealed in foodstuffs on a Qatar Airways flight to Muscat, Oman. The suspect was arrested at the Lagos airport, and the illicit substances were seized.
In Imo State, NDLEA operatives intercepted a Mercedes Benz container truck marked ABN 418 YN parked in an isolated area along the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway on Sunday, October 15. A search of the abandoned truck led to the discovery of 168 bags of skunk weighing 1,854 kilograms. In addition, the agency reported seizing less than 1,381.3 kilograms of the same substance in four interdiction operations in parts of Edo state, including Ekpon community in Igueben LGA, Iguiye forest in Ovia North East LGA, Iruekpen in Ndokwa West where a suspect named Monday Nwocha was arrested, and Egwalor village in Onwude LGA, where the duo of Obune Prince and Chika Obi were arrested, and their Audi 80 salon car marked BEN 406 CL loaded with cannabis sativa was recovered.
In Kano state, an ex-convict named Aminu Suleiman, aged 46, was arrested along with Haruna Abdurrahaman, aged 41, and Ojo Esezobor, aged 34, at Gadar Tamburawa area on Saturday, October 14, with 106 kilograms of cannabis. The NDLEA noted that Aminu had been previously arrested with 22 kilograms of cannabis on June 3, 2022, and was convicted by the court on November 24, 2022.
Furthermore, four other suspects—Inusa Ali, Yahaya Musa, Abba Audu, Ali Abubakar, and Bunu Kyari—were apprehended at Gadar Tamburawa area of Kano on Monday, October 16th, for dealing in 75.3 kilograms of skunk.
Operatives of the Zone J Command of the NDLEA seized 478 kilograms of cannabis in a forest in Ikere Ekiti on Friday, October 20, and recovered a total of 928 kilograms of the same substance in a bush near Shagari market, along Ifon-Owo express road, and Ibola camp in Ipele forest, Ondo State.
In Borno State, a suspect named Sani Mohammed was arrested on Saturday, October 21, with 182 kilograms of cannabis at Njimtilo, along the Maiduguri-Damaturu road.
In another operation, NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI), attached to courier companies, intercepted 1 kilogram of methamphetamine concealed in containers of body cream destined for New Zealand, as well as another consignment of 2.5 kilograms of cocaine and phenacetin hidden in the walls of a carton intended for Saudi Arabia on Sunday, October 15.Is this conversation helpful so far?
