The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) operatives have arrested an automobile spare parts dealer, Ejiofor Nnaemeka Chiwuzie, over an attempt to export consignments of heroin and loud, a strain of cannabis concealed in LED rechargeable lamps and sofa metal legs through the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja Lagos.
Ejiofor was arrested on Tuesday, September 24, 2024, at the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo area of Lagos, where he sells automobile spare parts following the seizure of his cargo containing auto parts, rechargeable lamps, sofa metal legs and electronics going to Liberia at the export shed of the Lagos airport.
The drugs were concealed inside the LED lamps and sofa legs, and the 37 parcels of heroin weighed 1.10 kilograms and four blocks of loud with a total weight of 1.20kg.
NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said a swift follow-up operation led to the arrest of two freight agents and Ejiofor, who sent the consignment.
In the same vein, attempts by drug trafficking networks to export consignments of loud, tramadol pills, co-codamol tablets, pentazocine injections, dihydrocodeine and promethazine tabs through some courier companies to the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Thailand and Oman were foiled by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operation and General Investigation, DOGI, attached to the logistics firms.
The NDLEA said, “While 2.3kg of loud hidden in a carton was going to Thailand, 749 grams of tramadol concealed in soles of locally made footwear were heading to Oman, with 60 ampoules of pentazocine injection going to the United States. No less than 200 pills of co-codamol were meant for Australia, while a total of 700 tablets of dihydrocodeine, promethazine and tramadol, as well as 20 ampoules of pentazocine injection concealed in soles of footwear, were heading to the United Kingdom. Also, 58 ampoules of pentazocine injection hidden in female clothes were going to Canada.”
The NDLEA said all the seizures in the courier houses were made between Monday, 23rd and Tuesday, 24th September, in Lagos.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, September 25, arrested a wanted drug kingpin, Ajiboye Damilare Samuel (a.k.a Na God), after 12 months of evading arrest following the raid of his warehouse in Akala, Mushin area of Lagos, where a total of 1,101 kilograms of Ghana Loud, a strong strain of cannabis was recovered on 4th September 2023.
The NDLEA said the arrest of Ajiboye in a bank in Ogun State followed well-coordinated efforts by the agency’s Directorate of Assets and Financial Investigation, which traced 20 bank accounts linked to the suspect and blocked them.
Also, NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Friday, September 27, took into custody a wanted community leader and Sarkin Yamma of Badagry, Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Talba, following the arrest of his two wives, Hauwa and Asma’u and son, Sadat as well as the seizure of a total of 226.2kg cannabis at their homes in Badagry on September 18.
