The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has detained an Indian businessman, Vyapak Nutal, over the smuggling of 134,700 bottles of codeine syrup into the country through the land border between Nigeria and Niger Republic in Sokoto State.
According to the NDLEA, the suspect loaded the consignment into trucks in Cotonou, Benin Republic, and drove through Niger Republic before entering Sokoto State at Illela.
NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said the suspect, who lodged in a hotel in Sokoto, began to look for buyers for the controlled drug.
Babafemi said, “While NDLEA operatives were on his trail, officers of the Department of State Services (DSS) were able to apprehend him and swiftly handed him over to NDLEA on Wednesday, February 10, 2022.” Meanwhile, elsewhere, attempts by drug traffickers to export large quantities of heroin, methamphetamine, khat, tramadol and cannabis through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), as well as three courier companies in Lagos, were frustrated by narcotic officers who intercepted the illicit consignments.
At the Lagos airport, operatives, on Tuesday, February 8, arrested one Felix Rotimi Eshemokhai with 1.75kg of heroin while trying to board Royal Air Maroc to Casablanca, Morocco, while another trafficker, Okafor Emmanuel Onuzuruike, was nabbed same day during his bid to travel on RwandAir to Dubai with 2.2kg of cannabis concealed in foodstuff.
Also, not less than 25kg of methamphetamine, tramadol, cannabis and khat concealed in motor parts, an MP3 player, a speaker and fabrics heading to USA, UK, Australia, Dubai and Madagascar were seized at three courier companies in Lagos.
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