Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested an Ibadan-based businesswoman, Mrs. Adewunmi Adebola Dorcas and an auto parts dealer, Arinze Ora, over attempts to export consignments of opioids and cocaine to London, United Kingdom and Congo Brazzaville respectively.
NDLEA officers at the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, had on Friday, 6th September, 2024, intercepted a cargo going to the UK.
Spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said thorough search of the consignment revealed that 924 bottles of codeine-based syrup weighing 135.70kgs and 5,250 tablets of rohypnol were hidden in cartons of foodstuffs.
“The freight agent, Owojori Olanrewaju Sunday, who presented the cargo for export was promptly arrested.
“Further investigation led to the arrest of another suspect, Adewunmi Akeem Temitope, who claimed that his mother, 58-year-old Mrs Adewunmi Adebola Dorcas sent the consignment to him from Ibadan to deliver to the agent.
“A follow up operation on Saturday 7th September led to the arrest of Mrs. Adewunmi in Ibadan where she deals in foodstuffs and cargo export,” Babafemi said.
Babafemi said the agent, Owojori, in his statement confessed that he had been working for Mrs Adewunmi to export cargoes to the UK, and that he was paid N2.41m for the job, while he was paid N2.1m for a similar consignment handled for the businesswoman earlier.
In the same vein, NDLEA operatives at the same export shed of the Lagos airport on Wednesday, 11th September, intercepted some cartons of auto spare parts and checkers powder custard going to Congo Brazzaville on Ethiopian Airlines.
A search of the cargo led to the discovery of 300 grams of cocaine concealed in the containers of checkers powder custard packed together with some auto parts.
A follow up operation led to the arrest of the sender of the consignment, Arinze Ora, who deals in auto parts at Shop 12, Block 7 Aspanda Trade Fair Auto Parts Wing, Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos.
Meanwhile, operatives of a Special Operations Unit of NDLEA on Tuesday, 10th September, arrested two brothers: Ikechukwu Ikeabba and Ugochukwu Ikeabba who are sponsors of drug traffickers who specialise in exporting drugs by ingestion to Vietnam.
Their arrest followed diligent investigation of an earlier arrest of an Onitsha, Anambra State-based businessman, Ibeanusi Solomon Nosike, who excreted 68 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.282kgs after 12 days of excretion observation following his arrest at the local wing of the Lagos airport by NDLEA operatives.
The 36-year-old Ibeanusi was arrested in the early hours of Thursday 8th August 2024 at the old domestic terminal of the Lagos airport while attempting to board the first flight out of Lagos to Abuja where he was scheduled to join a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, at about 10am same day.
Another Vietnam-bound businessman, 54-year-old Paul Okwuy Mbadugha had been arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Abuja airport on Monday, 12th August, 2024, during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam via Doha after he tested positive to ingestion of cocaine.
After four days under observation, Mbadugha egested a total of 88 wraps of the illicit drug with a gross weight of 1.710kgs.
At the time of the arrest of the two kingpins, the Ikeabba brothers, they were caught with 87 wraps of cocaine dummies used in training intending swallowers.
In Gombe State, NDLEA operatives acting on credible intelligence on Saturday 14th September arrested three suspects: Auwal Abdullahi, Isah Rabiu and Abubakar Da’u along Bauchi-Gombe road while travelling in a DAF truck marked GME 552 ZU.
A search of the vehicle led to the seizure of two million four hundred and ninety (2,490,000) pills of tramadol concealed with bags of salt.
Also, a suspect, Idris Adamu, 23, was arrested with 41.5kgs of cannabis sativa at Kachia town, Kaduna State on Tuesday 10th September while two suspects: Godiya Sekyen Jikuk, 36, and Yusuf Umaru,65, were nabbed at Isinbode-Ekiti, Ekiti state with a total of 73.6kgs cannabis on Wednesday 11th September.
In Bauchi state, no fewer than 208,920 pills of tramadol and diazepam were seized from a suspect, Chinedu Asadu, 35, on Thursday, 13th September, while 104kg of cannabis was recovered from two suspects: Abba Abdullahi and Mustapha Yahaya along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on Tuesday 10th September by operatives in Lagos state.
Not less than 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were discovered by NDLEA operatives in two containers shipped from India during a joint examination of the containers with men of Customs Service and other security agencies at the Tincan port in Lagos on Tuesday 10th September.
The containers were part of those targeted by NDLEA for 100 percent examination.
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