NDLEA Arrests South African Woman For Drug Trafficking

National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a South African woman, Gebashe Sithandiwe Jessie, at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, Rivers State, with 32.74 kilogrammes of cannabis, alongside several other suspects in nationwide operations that led to the seizure of large quantities of illicit drugs and firearms.

The NDLEA disclosed this yesterday by its director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.

The agency said in an operation at the Port Harcourt International Airport, operatives, working with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), arrested Jessie with 30 parcels of Thai Loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 32.74 kilogrammes.

The suspect reportedly travelled from Thailand through Doha, Qatar, aboard a Qatar Airways flight.

NDLEA said she confessed to previously trafficking drugs through other African countries and was attempting to extend her operations to Port Harcourt when she was arrested.

At the Import Shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted 354,000 tablets of Tapentadol, 250mg, weighing 307.20 kilogrammes, in a shipment of nine cartons from Pakistan.

The consignment, which arrived aboard a Royal Air Maroc flight on 29 September, was subjected to a joint examination on 6 October, during which the tablets were discovered

Another shipment from the United Kingdom yielded 70 parcels of Colorado weighing 75.90 kilogrammes, concealed in six Ghana-Must-Go bags.

The NDLEA said a clearing agent, John Edrah, 54, was arrested on 30 September, followed by an Uber driver, Taofiq Ajibola, 54, who was apprehended while collecting one of the bags at a logistics company in the Mafoluku area of Oshodi, Lagos.

Two other suspects, Adetunji Adebayo and Kazeem Damola Dosunmu, 48, were subsequently arrested while allegedly collecting the remaining five bags.

According to the agency, Ajibola identified a UK-based associate, Lukman Sa’idu, as the person who sent his consignment, while Dosunmu said his drugs came from another UK-based individual identified as Yusuf.