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Cocaine worth billions of naira hidden in sturdy car steering knuckles and Ghanaian fabric, Kente, among others, have been recovered in a nationwide operation conducted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
In a statement released on Sunday, the spokesperson for the anti-drug agency, Femi Babafemi, while revealing that the operation was intelligence-led, noted that 2.32 kilograms of cocaine concealed in traditional Ghanaian kente materials destined for the United Kingdom were intercepted from a courier in Lagos last Monday.
He said 10,494 kilograms of the same Class A drug, buried in sturdy hub shafts bound for the United States, were recovered from the same logistics company after NDLEA drug dogs fished out car parts containing the illicit drug, bringing the total weight of cocaine seized in the two shipments to 12,814 kilograms.
Babafemi added that five more shipments bound for the US, UK and Canada were intercepted at the courier firm in Lagos last Friday. The intercepted shipments include 517 grams of cocaine in clothing materials; various quantities of Pentazocine injection, Promethazine injection and Cocodamol pills, all bound for the UK, as well as 297 Tramadol 225mg pills bound for Canada.
He said that at another logistics company in Lagos, NDLEA operatives recovered 21 parcels of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 10 kilograms from the United States and destined for delivery to Abuja.
Babafemi said that in another intelligence-led operation, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday arrested a member of a cocaine trafficking ring, Obiora Agudosi, at Alafia Orile, Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos, while he was attempting to transport 9 kilograms of cocaine to Onitsha, Anambra State.
He further said that two members of another cocaine cartel based in Nnewi and Oba towns in Anambra State were arrested last Thursday in a follow-up operation following the seizure of their consignments on a GUO Transport Company bus in Benin, Edo State, on the same day.
He noted that while the bus driver, Harrison Mbachu, 44, was arrested at Benin toll gate with a total of 2,865 kilograms of cocaine, Izuchkwu Arinze, 40, was arrested in Nnewi town while trying to collect his consignment of 1,748 kilograms of cocaine and 514 grams of sodium bicarbonate, while Ameachi Okoro, 39, was arrested while trying to collect his consignment of 1,117 kilograms of cocaine in Oba town.
Babafemi revealed that last Wednesday, NDLEA operatives were at Tincan Seaport in Lagos
532 packages of Loud, a synthetic cannabis strain weighing 265.25 kilograms, were intercepted in a black Toyota Sienna bus, one of three vehicles in a container marked MSMU 6029570 from Montreal, Canada.
He said that the seizure was made during a 100% joint inspection with the men of the Customs Service and other interested parties and that the following day, Thursday, the officers recorded another seizure of 75 packages of the same substance weighing 37.5 kilograms in a container marked FSCU-9274613, originating from Canada.
In Adamawa State, NDLEA operatives last Thursday, with the support of men of Operation Farauta Sector 3, Mayo Belwa, arrested Joseph Peter, 49, with 425 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 291.2 kilograms in his Toyota Camry marked Lagos KSF 381 HM. He said he had brought the consignment from Edo State to deliver it to Yola, Adamawa State.
While two suspects, Adekunle Sunday Adebayo, 50, and Yahaya Mamuda, 35, were arrested on Tuesday at Gadar Tamburawa area of Kano with 29.5kg of cannabis, NDLEA operatives in Lagos recovered 1,169kg of the same psychoactive substance from a bus along Orchid Road, Ajah, on Sunday.
Last Friday, no less than 1,230 kilograms of cannabis were destroyed on three hectares of farmland in Ikeje Forest, Edimogo village, Igalamela/Odolu County, Kogi State, by NDLEA officers supported by Nigerian Army men, while the owner, Danjuma Maji, 40, was arrested.
He said that with the same enthusiasm, the agency’s commands and formations across the country continued their awareness-raising activities on the War on Drug Abuse (WADA) in schools, places of worship, workplaces and communities, among others, last week.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd), urged them and their compatriots across the country to continue with the current balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
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