NDLEA intercepts UK-bound N567m meth in Lagos, arrests baron

The illicit drug consignment weighing 30.10kgs with a street value of N567m was detected and seized by the NDLEA operatives at the airport on Tuesday.

Spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said that the seizure was swiftly followed by a series of operations that led to the arrest of a freight agent, Nwobodo Chidiebere; a female suspect, Chioma Lucy Akuta and ultimately the alleged drug lord behind the shipment, Charles Chinedu Ezeh, who was arrested at Sotel Suites, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos on Thursday.

“Ezeh claims he is a businessman and deals in articles in Onitsha, Anambra State, but investigations revealed he lived with his wife and children in London until 10th December 2022 when he fled to Nigeria after his involvement in a drug related offence in the UK.

“Though he claimed to have been living in hotels since his return to Nigeria last December, operatives were however able to locate his mansion at No. 1 Hawawu Abikan Street, Lekki, on Friday 19th May, where a search was conducted and his travel and property documents among others were recovered,” Babafemi said.

Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Adamawa State, on Monday arrested a 32-year-old notorious drug dealer, Prince Ikechukwu Uzoma, in Mubi area of the state with 1kg of skunk.

Ikechukwu had been reportedly arrested twice and convicted for the same offence. He was in 2017 sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and in 2019 he was again sent to two years in jail.

In the same vein, a trans-border trafficker, Faisal Mohammed, 27, was on Wednesday arrested in Mubi, Adamawa State, following the interception of a truck from Onitsha, Anambra State, where a total of 2,376 sachets of tramadol comprising 23,760 pills were found concealed in three blue rubber jerrycans which were hidden underneath the body part of the trailer. The suspect reportedly admitted the opioid was to be taken to Cameroon.

In Oyo State, two suspects: Osas Susan, 35, and Thomas Biodun, 23, were arrested at Igbon, Gambari in Ogbomoso North LGA with 2.13kg cannabis while Idris Muhammed, 55, was nabbed with 4,500 pills of tramadol when a commercial bus conveying him and other passengers was stopped and searched along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

Similarly, Bulus Mikah, 63, was arrested at Kafanchan, Kaduna State with over 5kg opioids including tramadol, diazepam, rohypnol and exol-5, just as a total of 965kg cannabis was seized from Shehu Muhammadu Dandare, 25, at Maraban Jos, in Igabi Local Government Area of the state.

While 552kgs cannabis was recovered from a warehouse in a bush when operatives stormed and destroyed 1.5 hectares of cannabis farm in Uhodoua forest, Esan South East LGA, Edo State, 10 suspects were arrested with a total of 5.587kgs cannabis sativa, 144.4grams of methamphetamine and 48, 260 capsules of tramadol in different parts of Onitsha, Anambra State on Friday.

In Kwara State, two suspects: Mohammed Isa, 47 and Mohammed Haman, 36, were arrested on Friday along Ilorin/Lagos road in a commercial bus on their way to Maiduguri, Borno State with 6kg cannabis, 50grams of methamphetamine and 20 pieces of military camouflage caps and uniforms.

The same day, operatives in Jigawa State nabbed one Ibrahim Abdullahi, 53, with 120kgs cannabis at Sara town in Gwaram LGA.

Not less than 628 bottles of new psychoactive substance, skuchies intercepted when operatives raided a drug joint at Idanre where four suspects were arrested.

They include: Olamide Olusola, 26; Abiodun Tijjani, 21; Fatope Temidayo, 29; Agba Obi, 30 and Olafisoye Festus, 26.

In the same vein, a suspect, Kayode Hakeem, 22, was arrested at Hawan Dawaki, Kano State with 293 blocks of cannabis weighing 211.6kgs.