Shola Adekola | Lagos
THREE sexagenarian grandfathers and a Nigerien were among suspects arrested in connection with the seizure of over 52.252 kilogrammes of cocaine, methamphetamine, skunk and over 32,590 pills of opioids in Lagos, Kwara, Plateau, Sokoto states by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) in the past week.
A suspect, Onyebi (surname withheld), who frequents Cameroun, Ethiopia and Uganda, who had been on NDLEA’s watchlist, was on Saturday, February 18, arrested at Iba, Ojo area of Lagos in connection with the seizure of a 19.70kgs cocaine abandoned on an Ethiopian Airline flight that arrived the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos on Thursday, February 9.
Onyebi had travelled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to pick the consignment, which he claimed was handed over to him in a black backpack bag on the plane in Addis Ababa, but failed to disembark with it on arrival in Lagos.
While the agency continued to investigate the flight crew members, relevant intelligence and investigative tools were deployed to identify the passenger who brought the consignment to Nigeria as a result of which Onyebi was eventually unravelled and traced to Victory Estate, Iba, where he was arrested.
In the same vein, operatives on Thursday February 23 intercepted an intending passenger, Obazee (surname withheld) on a Turkish Airline flight to Torino via Milan, Italy at the departure hall of the Lagos airport with various quantities of opioids.
The consignment, consisting a total of 22,840 tablets of Tramadol 225mg weighing 10.60kg, 1,000 tablets of Tramadol 200mg with a gross weight of 600 grammes, 2, 300 capsules of Tramadol 100mg, weighing 800 grammes and 60 tablets of Rohypnol 1mg, weighing 19 grammes, were concealed inside cloths and wrapped with black tapes.
The following day, Friday, February 24, NDLEA operatives attached to the NAHCO import shed of the airport intercepted eight cartons of shoes coming from Los Angeles, United States of America.
A diligent examination of the cargo, however, showed that the shoes were used to conceal a total of 37 parcels of Loud variant of Cannabis with a gross weight of 20.10 kilogrammes.
A 63-year-old grandfather, Abideen (surname withheld), hired as freight agent to clear the illicit consignment, has already been arrested.
Two other sexagenarians arrested in connection with drug trafficking include Butven (62), who was nabbed with 5.5kgs skunk on Friday, February 17 at Timbol village, Langtang South Local Government Area of Plateau State, as well as 65-year-old Musa (surname withheld), who was arrested with a kilogramme of cannabis on Thursday, February 23, at Adewole area of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
At two major courier companies in Lagos, a total of 4.292 kilograms of psychoactive drugs including Methamphetamine, Tramadol, Lexaton, and Swindon concealed in walls of cartons, picture frames, bathing soap packs and bedsheets were recovered from parcels going to United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia by officers of the NDLEA Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI attached to the logistics firms.
In Sokoto State, NDLEA operatives at the Illela land border on Tuesday, February 21 intercepted a Nigerien, Bashar (surname withheld) with 1.460kgs of skunk wrapped round his private part, while in Kaduna, a suspect was arrested with 6,390 tablets of Tramadol 225mg, weighing 3.4kgs on Thursday, February 23rd on the Abuja-Kaduna expressway.
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