Two businessmen arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, (NAIA) Abuja for cocaine ingestion, have both excreted 193 pellets of the illicit drug after three days in observatory custody.
The traffickers: Onoh Ebere, 49, and Christian Ifeanyi Ogbuji, 47, were intercepted at the Abuja Airport on Wednesday, May 10, 2023 upon their arrival from Uganda via Addis Ababa, onboard Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 951. Though both suspects have businesses they manage in Nigeria, their main sources of income have been drug trafficking. They both travelled to Uganda and from there crossed over to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where they picked the consignments before returning to Abuja with Lagos as their final destination.
According to a statement signed by the NDLEA director of media and advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, after days in excretion room, Ebere Onoh excreted a total of 100 pellets weighing 2.137kg while Christian Ifeanyi Ogbuji excreted 93 pellets hidden in his stomach with a gross weight of 1.986kg.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives have raided two notorious drug joints, Zaro bunk in Bama Road, Sabon Gari and the Sani Abacha Indoor Stadium, both in Kano metropolis of Kano State, where a total of 160 suspects were arrested with different quantities of illicit substances.
Also, two suspects: Abubakar Sallau, 55, and Nazifi Abdullahi, 25, were arrested on Saturday, May 13, along Kano-Maiduguri Road with 5,000 pills of Tramadol 200mg, while a total of 65,200 tablets of tramadol and exol-5 were seized from the duo of Adamu Nagati, 30, and Ali Nasiru, 35.
This is even as operatives in Abuja also arrested 25 suspects in raids across Tora Bora, Gwarinpa village, 3rd Avenue in Gwarinpa, Karmo, Garki market, Sabon Gari Bwari and New Kucingoro IDP camp, within the FCT.
Another bid to smuggle into Lagos a consignment of 24kg cannabis indica concealed in imported used cars from Canada was again frustrated by NDLEA operatives who seized the illicit substance on Thursday, May 11 during a joint 100% examination of a container marked, MSMU 7412069, at the Prime Connection Bonded terminal, off Oshodi-Apapa expressway. Two clearing agents linked with the container, Chief G.O. Njokwu and Mr. Christopher Obialor, have been arrested by NDLEA in collaboration with men of the Nigeria Customs Service.
In the same vein, operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, attached to courier firms, have intercepted a Saudi Arabia-bound 398grams of cocaine hidden in native dresses during outward clearance of goods.
A female suspect, Fatima Hassan, was arrested on Friday, May 12 at Agege, Lagos with 33.5kg of cannabis sativa, while 44kg of the same substance was recovered same day from the Lagos Island warehouse of a fleeing drug dealer. The previous day, Thursday, May 11, another suspect, Peter Joseph, was arrested along Lagos/Ibadan expressway with 10,000 pills of Tramadol 250mg and 1,500 tablets of Rohypnol concealed inside his Toyota Sienna vehicle, with registration number NRK 961XB.
Similarly, a total of 68,300 pills of various opioids mainly tramadol were recovered from one Bello Nasiru Usman when the truck conveying the illicit drugs was intercepted in Awka, Anambra State. In the same vein, 460,000mls of Akuskura in 7,800 bottles were seized from a dealer, Mohammed Kyari, 42, when he was arrested in Gamboru Ngala town, Jere LGA, Borno State, on Wednesday, May 10.
While NDLEA operatives supported by soldiers raided the hideout of a notorious drug dealer, Jimoh Lekan (a.k.a ‘komokomo’) in Owode, Ogun State where 134kg cannabis was recovered from his store on Thursday, May 11, their counterparts in Plateau State on Tuesday, May 9, arrested a suspect Bashir Usman, 32, at the Gangare Area of Jos, with 43.951kg of cannabis.
While commending the officers and men of NAIA, Tincan, Kano, FCT, Lagos, Ogun, Taraba, Borno, Plateau and Anambra Commands of the agency as well as those of DOGI for their resilience, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), has urged them and their peers across the country to intensify their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction activities.
