NDLEA Arrests Village Head, Others Over Dealings In Illicit Drugs

The village head of Gidan Abba in Bodinga local government area of Sokoto state, Abubakar Ibrahim, has been arrested in sting operations involving the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over his alleged involvement in dealings on drugs.

NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi said the village head was among eleven suspects arrested in interdiction operations in which 991,320 pills of pharmaceutical opioids and 1,251kgs of Cannabis and Khat as well as 46.637 kilograms of Methamphetamin, Cocaine and Heroin were recovered by operatives of the NDLEA across seven states.

At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos, NDLEA operatives attached to the SAHCO import shed on Wednesday 26th October intercepted a total of 15 cartons containing 802,000 pills of Tramadol imported from Dubai, UAE and Karachi, Pakistan.

While 10 cartons of Tramadol 225mg came in from Dubai on Ethiopian Airlines flight, four cartons of 100mg and a carton of 225mg Tramadol came from Karachi, Pakistan on another Ethiopian Airlines flight.

On the same day, operatives at the SAHCO export shed intercepted cans of tomato paste going to the United Kingdom.

The NDLEA said a thorough search of the consignment revealed that the tomato cans were used to conceal 36 pellets of cannabis with a gross weight of 21.30 kilograms while a cargo agent, Sodehinde Akinwale has been arrested in connection with the seizure.

Two days ago, operatives attached to the NAHCO import shed of the Lagos airport seized five cartons of dried khat leaves, weighing 107.70kgs that came in from Bangkok, Thailand through Dubai on an Emirates Airline flight.

A follow up operation on the seizure of 11.90kgs Meth concealed in the heads of dried fish going to Dubai, UAE on 5th August has led to the arrest of a 30-year-old bricklayer, Babatunde Quadri Mamowora on Thursday 27th Oct in Sango Ota area of Ogun state in collaboration with men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) in the area.

In the same vein, a 27-year-old Madu Chukwuemeka Miracle has been arrested by operatives at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, AIIA, Enugu on arrival from Nairobi, Kenya via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Wednesday 26th Oct. A search of his three bags revealed 76 foreign bathing soaps made with cocaine in one of the bags while another has two plastic bottles containing cream like liquid, which tested positive to cocaine.

The cocaine bars weigh 10.650 kilograms while the liquid cocaine weighs 2.496 kilograms, bringing the total weight to 13.146 kilograms.