The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has arrested a Vietnam-bound businessman, Paul Okwuy Mbadugha at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja after he tested positive to ingestion of cocaine.
The 54-year-old suspect was arrested at the boarding gate of the Abuja airport on Monday August 12, 2024 during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam via Doha.
NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, said after four days under excretion observation, Mbadugha egested a total of 88 wraps of the illicit drug with a gross weight of 1.710 kilograms.
In his statement, the suspect claimed to be a Lagos-based businessman, that he was given the cocaine pellets to swallow by a friend at Isolo area of the state for onward delivery in Vietnam for a fee of $2,000.
In the same vein, NDLEA officers at the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja, Lagos intercepted a shipment of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 800 grams concealed in noodles going to Congo.
The NDLEA said a follow-up operation at the Alaba International market in the Ojo area of Lagos led to the arrest of the sender of the consignment, Nnamani Sunday Sunny, who deals in GSM handsets.
Meanwhile, a large consignment of Loud imported from Canada have been recovered by NDLEA operatives at the Lagos airport.
Also, the suspect, Desalu Taophic Temitope, who arrived on board an Air France flight with six boxes was arrested by anti-narcotic officers during a joint examination by security agencies at the arrival hall.
A total of 65.80 kilograms of the psychoactive substance were recovered from four of the six suitcases.
In his statement, Desalu said he and an accomplice currently at large were promised $10,000 upon successful delivery of the shipment in Lagos.
Similarly, no less than 892,400 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth N6, 246,800,000.00 in street value were recovered from five containers by NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers State.
The recovery followed a joint examination of the containers with men of the Nigeria Customs and other port stakeholders on Wednesday and Thursday August 14 and 15, 2024.
The bottles of the opioid were packed in 5,337 cartons with a gross weight of 133,860 kilograms and shipped in five containers from India.
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