Businessman expels 88 wraps of cocaine as NDLEA intercepts drugs in noodles at Lagos airport

A Vietnam-bound businessman, Paul Mbadugha, has been arrested by officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja after testing positive for ingesting cocaine.

The 54-year-old suspect was arrested on Monday at the boarding gate of Abuja airport, during the departure of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 bound for Hanoi, Vietnam, via Doha.

Anti-drug agency spokesman Femi Babafemi, in a statement released on Sunday, said that after four days of observation, Mbadugha expelled a total of 88 wraps of cocaine with a gross weight of 1.71 kilograms.

Babafemi said in Mbadugha’s statement that he was a businessman from Lagos and that he received the cocaine pellets from a friend in the Isolo area of ​​the state and delivered them to Vietnam at a cost of $2,000.

The spokesperson further said that NDLEA officers at the export shed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos intercepted a consignment of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 800 grams hidden in noodles, bound for Congo.

He added that a follow-up operation at Alaba International Market, Ojo area of ​​Lagos, led to the arrest of the sender of the consignment, Nnamani Sunday, who deals in mobile phones.

He further disclosed that a large consignment of Loud imported from Canada had been recovered by NDLEA operatives at Lagos airport, saying that a suspect, Desalu Temitope, who arrived on an Air France flight with six boxes, was arrested by anti-drug agents during a joint examination by security agencies at the arrivals hall.

He said that a total of 65.8 kilograms of psychoactive substance were recovered from four of the six suitcases.

Desalu, in his statement, reportedly revealed that he and an accomplice currently at liberty had been promised $10,000 if the shipment was successfully delivered to Lagos.

Babafemi also disclosed that no fewer than 892,400 bottles of codeine syrup worth N6,246,800,000.00 at market value were recovered from five containers by NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers State during a joint examination of the containers with Nigerian Customs men and other stakeholders at the port on Wednesday.

He said the opioid bottles were packed in 5,337 cartons with a gross weight of 133,860 kilograms and shipped in five containers from India.

In Ekiti State, NDLEA operatives, supported by members of the Nigerian Army and other security agencies, as well as community youths, raided Ise Forest Reserve, Saalaja Camp, Ise-Ekiti on Wednesday, where 21,800 kilograms of cannabis sativa were destroyed on 20 hectares of farmland.

Babafemi said the following day, last Thursday, NDLEA officers patrolling along the Onitsha-Enugu road in Enugu intercepted a Sienna bus marked SKA-24 AG from which 200.2 kilograms of cannabis was recovered and the driver, Okoro Emmanuel, 41, was arrested.

He said while Joseph Apeh, 45, and Diamond Nnabuike, 21, were arrested with 145,400 tramadol pills last Monday at Gadar Tamburawa, Kano area, NDLEA operatives in Ogun State last Tuesday arrested Fidelis Egede, 70, and three others: Samuel Sylvanus, 31; Jato Samson, 33; and Francis Blessing, 28, when a six-hectare cannabis plantation was raided at Alaka village.

In Abuja, NDLEA officers patrolling the Kwali-Gwagwalada expressway on Tuesday intercepted a truck from which 30,000 vials of injectable pentazocine were recovered and three suspects: Ifeanyi Sunday, Jeremiah Paul and Edet Ubokobong were arrested.

Last Thursday, NDLEA operatives in Niger State arrested Ifeanyi Chukwueze in Kontagora town with 28,500 tramadol pills hidden in a loudspeaker, while last Wednesday, their counterparts in Kogi State arrested Abba Yakubu with 40,000 tramadol pills headed to Kontagora.

Another suspect, Tochukwu Onah, 39, was arrested last Thursday by NDLEA operatives in Paparanda, Lokoja, with 1,000 vials of pentazocine injection.

Babafemi said that across the country, NDLEA commands continued their War on Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization conferences and sensitization visits to places of worship, schools, workplaces, palaces of traditional rulers and communities throughout the week.

Meanwhile, while commending the officers and men of the NAIA, MMIA, PHPC, FCT, Kogi, Ogun, Ekiti, Kano, Enugu and Niger Commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures last week, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier General Buba Marwa (retd.) also applauded their compatriots in all commands across the country for stepping up WADA’s sensitization lectures and advocacy messages in every part of their areas of responsibility.

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