Posted by The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) reports that agents at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos have seized ephedrine, skunk, and nitrous oxide (laughing gas) hidden in semovita packs and dry pepper.
Members of Transnational Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTO) were arrested when it was revealed by NDLEA that drugs were being smuggled to South Africa and Kenya.
Director of Media and Advocacy at NDLEA’s National Headquarters in Abuja, Femi Babafemi, made the announcement in a statement on Sunday.
Babafemi claimed that the agency had genuine evidence that led to the capture of infamous drug trafficker Suleiman Babatunde Oba on Friday. Oba is a member of a cartel that smuggles drugs through Nigeria, Brazil, Ghana, South Africa, Mozambique, and Europe.
The agency claimed that Suleiman was caught with two boxes of ephedrine in semovita packs, a precursor chemical and active ingredient in the manufacturing of methamphetamine, while attempting to board a Rwanda Air aircraft to South Africa.
A white Toyota Venza with the license plate number LSR 410 HT, a Mercedes Benz SUV with the license plate number LSD 998HP, as well as phones and important documents were found in Suleiman’s home.
The Agency also reported seizing 25.60 kilograms of ephedrine from a trafficker named Arua Emmanuel Onwuka at the Lagos airport. This seizure has also been linked to the same cartel whose identified members are currently on the run. An airport official named Godwin Shedrack (a.k.a. Goddy) has been identified as a member of the syndicate and is currently under investigation.
Similarly, on Saturday, NDLEA operatives stationed at the airport’s NAHCO export shed prevented another syndicate from exporting 10.40 kilograms of skunk disguised with scent leaf and pepper en route to Nairobi, Kenya; a suspect, Ekechukwu Sixtus Ndubuisi, was arrested in connection with the seizure.
Oyekola Gbenga Akeem, a freight agent, attempted to transport 180 canisters of laughing gas to South Africa for a price of N2 million. The agency foiled this attempt by seizing the shipment and arresting Akeem.
Meanwhile, on August 1st, NDLEA agents arrested a fake couple at the Lagos airport after they were caught with 1.822 kilograms of cocaine and 1.5 kilograms of cocaine, respectively. The couple, identified as Ilonzeh Kingsley Onyebuchi and Ilonzeh Roseline Nonyelum, were en route to India.
After 25 days of continuous surveillance, the NDLEA claimed that the suspected kingpin was arrested at his home at 28 Afolabi Brown Street, Akoka, Yaba.
The statement claims that during an interview, Onyedikachi admitted that he met the two suspects, Ilonzeh Kingsley Onyebuchi and Ilonzeh Roseline Nonyelum, at Zion Church in the Cele area of Lagos. He said that Guinea Conakry was the origin of the drug.
On the same day that the Tincan port command seized 27 packets of Colorado totaling 13.5 kilograms, NDLEA operatives from the Lagos state Command arrested a suspect named Peter Iwebema at Ikorodu with 79 and a half bags of cannabis sativa weighing 864.5 kilograms.
The agency claimed that the synthetic substance was discovered in a bag hidden inside a Ford Edge SUV, one of three units of used vehicles and motor parts found in the container, and that the seizure was made from a container, MSMU 5664550, traveling from Toronto via Montreal, Canada.
The anti-narcotics agency also reported the arrest of two men, Nafiu Arzika, 30, and Jamilu Aminu, 35, in Sokoto with 330 kilograms of skunk, and Ismaila Razak, 38, in the Olodo area of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, with 34.5 kilograms of the same substance and 9.5 grams of methamphetamine on September 2.
This is despite the fact that NDLEA offices in every state and the FCT have ramped up their War on Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy activities at institutions of higher learning, places of worship, royal residences, and neighborhoods across the country. The agency claims that the sensitization lectures took place at the Holy Trinity Gospel Church in Ogbomoso, the Jammatul Nasirul Islam mosque in Ilorin, the Association of Hair Stylists in Ado Ekiti, the leaders of the road transport union in Abeokuta, the merchants at the Kwata market in Awka, the pregnant women at the primary health care center in Bonny, the Dekara district palace in Babana community in Borgu LGA, the
The Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Ret.), commended the officers and men of the Agency across the Commands for their efforts in drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction initiatives, and he charged them to remain steadfast.