PICTORIAL: NDLEA Nabs Thailand Returnee With N3.1bn Heroin At Lagos Airport

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Ikeja, Lagos has arrested a Thailand returnee, Oguejiofor Nnaemeka Simonpeter for importing 13.30 kilograms of heroin worth over N3.192billion.

This is as a result of a fresh wave of interdiction operations targeting transnational drug cartels across the country and beyond by the anti-narcotics agency.

Oguejiofor was arrested on Monday October 7, 2024 while attempting to smuggle the illicit drugs concealed in six backpacks and then packed into two big suitcases out of the airport.

NDLEA’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday said the 29-year-old graduate of Mechanical Engineering from the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Uli, Anambra State, had left Thailand on October 3, on Qatar Airways flight and stopped over in Doha where he spent two days before heading to Lagos while his luggage was routed to Accra, Ghana, his original destination.

After arriving Lagos on October 5, NDLEA narrated that the suspect contacted the airline to reroute his luggage to Nigeria so that he can pick them up as rush bags in a bit to beat security checks.

“However, NDLEA officers intercepted him at the point of exit. A search of his two suitcases revealed three empty backpacks in each box with a large parcel of heroin neatly sewn to all the six backpacks. The six parcels were subsequently recovered with a gross weight of 13.30kg,” Babafemi revealed.

In his statement, Oguejiofor claimed he was hired for a fee of $7,000 upon successful delivery of the parcels.

He said he was to deliver two parcels in Lagos and the other four parcels in Accra, Ghana.

Similarly, operatives of the NDLEA at three seaports intercepted large consignments of opioids with a combined monetary value of N22,740,958,000.

A total of 32,607,900 pills of tramadol worth N12,577,000,000 and 1,451,994 bottles of codeine-based syrup with a street value of N10,163,958,000 were intercepted at the Lekki Deep Seaport, Apapa seaport in Lagos and Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, Rivers State.

The anti-narcotic agency gave the combined monetary value of the seized opioids at N22,740,958,000.

The agency said the illicit consignments were seized from containers watch listed by NDLEA based on intelligence and processed for 100 per cent joint examination with men of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies at the three seaports between Monday 7 and Friday 11, October 2024.