Barely hours to the New Year, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a Qatar-based businessman, Agu Evidence Amobi, and one Uchegbu Onyebuchi Obi with consignments of psychoactive substances at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
While Amobi was arrested on Saturday at the departure point of terminal 2 of the MMIA on his way to Doha, Qatar, on a Qatar Airways flight, Obi was taken into custody same day following the seizure of a consignment of 72,000 pills of tramadol 225mg, which he attempted to ship to Kano on a local flight.
Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in a statement said that Amobi who claimed he had been living and working in Doha, Qatar for over 10 years was caught with 1.30kgs cannabis sativa concealed in a bag of foodstuff.
“He (Amobi) claimed he bought the substance in Enugu to deliver in Doha to enable him raise enough funds to pay his rents in Doha and Nigeria and school fees of his three children,” Babafemi said.
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In the same vein, NDLEA operatives at the domestic wing of the airport intercepted a carton containing a total of 72,000 pills of tramadol 250mg with a gross weight of 38.50kg.
This was closely followed with the arrest of Obi who brought the consignment to the airport for shipment to Kano.
On Christmas Day, in Yobe State, NDLEA officers on patrol along Nguru-Gashua road intercepted the trio of Musa Sani, Mohammed Ibrahim and Adamu Usman in a truck reportedly conveying 39 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 15.7kgs and 128,500 pills of opioids.
Follow-up operations the following day led to the arrest of the actual owner of the cannabis consignment, Ali Ibrahim (a.k.a Ramos), in Geidam where additional 208 blocks of the same substance were recovered from his house, bringing the total to 247 blocks weighing 94.74kgs.
Also, the owner of the seized opioids, Mustapha Goni (a.k.a Lolo) was arrested.
In Imo State, NDLEA operatives on Christmas eve, while on patrol along Owerri-Onitsha expressway, intercepted a commercial bus driven by Peter Orji, 42, with 400 bottles of codeine syrup; 7,590 pills of opioids including tramadol 225mg heading for Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.
One David Michael, 52, was arrested at Unguwa Ukku area of Kano on Sunday with 49 blocks of cannabis weighing 42.6kgs, Umar Abdullahi, 27. He was allegedly nabbed with 27,350 pills of opioids at Gadar Tamburawa area of the city same day.
This is even as 45-year-old Yusuf Yahaya was arrested same Christmas eve along Lagos-Ilorin expressway with 31.00kgs of compressed cannabis in a commercial bus coming from Ibadan, Oyo State to Kebbi State.
Preliminary investigation revealed that he supplied illicit drugs to bandits in Kebbi and Zamfara axis.
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