- Suspects were placed under excretion observation
Two businessmen, identified as Ihejirika Okechukwu Emmanuel and Iwuagwu Ikedi Victory, as well as a Canada-based nurse, Usman Grace Khadijat Olami, have been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, for attempting to import and export cocaine pellets and parcels of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, through the airport.
A statement by NDLEA Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, explained that “Ihejirika, who frequently travels to Thailand from where he claimed to be importing fish into Nigeria, was arrested on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Thailand via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. When he was taken for a body scan, the result showed that he ingested an illicit drug, which proved to be cocaine. As a result, he was placed under excretion observation, during which he expelled five big egg-sized wraps of cocaine weighing 400 grammes. In his statement, the 51-year-old suspect confessed that he was to be paid upon successful delivery of the drug consignment in Thailand. He said he needed the money to boost his fish importation business.
“In the same vein, NDLEA operatives at the Lagos airport on Thursday, 17th, intercepted businessman Iwuagwu Ikedi Victory coming from Brazil via Addis Ababa, 26, during the inward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight. His body scan revealed ingestion of illicit drug. When he was put under observation, he excreted a pellet of cocaine weighing 22 grammes.
“He however confessed that he ingested 30 wraps of the illicit drug in Brazil but excreted 29 pellets in Addis Ababa, where he handed them over to another person. The suspect revealed that he was to be paid N2.5 million for trafficking the drug.
“Meanwhile, a Nigerian Canadian nurse, Usman Grace Khadijat Olami, was on October 4 by NDLEA officers at the Lagos airport during the inward clearance of Air France passengers from Toronto, Canada, via Paris. During a search of her luggage, a total of 70 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 35.70 kg, were recovered from her.
“During her interview, she claimed she was in Nigeria to meet her boyfriend, who instructed her to come with the large consignment of the highly sought-after synthetic cannabis.
“At the seaports, a total of 162,351 bottles of codeine-based syrup were intercepted from two containers at the Apapa seaport in Lagos by NDLEA operatives during a joint examination of two containers with men of the Customs Service and other security agencies on Tuesday, October 15, not less than 7,200,000 pills of Royal 225 mg Tapentadol and Carisoprodol worth N3,600,000,000. in street value were seized from a watch-listed container from India at Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, Rivers State on Tuesday, 15th October.
“In the same container, 780 cartons of chlorphenamine containing 15,600,000 pills of the opioid were also recovered. From two other watch-listed containers equally searched at the port in Onne, a total of 337,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth N2,359,000,000 were recovered from them on Tuesday 15th and Thursday 17th October. This brings the total value of the seized Tapentadol, Carisoprodol, and Codeine consignments at the two seaports to N7,095,457,000.
“In Bauchi state, a suspect, Sunday Jonathan Ogenyi, 33, was arrested along Bauchi-Jos road with 76,600 pills of tramadol concealed in false compartments of his Toyota Sienna vehicle with number plate JRV 341 ZY, while NDLEA operatives in Ondo state on Tuesday, October 15, arrested three suspects: Goddey Obizuo, Samuel Aniete; and Kuffrey Aniete at Afo village where 672kg cannabis sativa was seized from them.
“A raid at Illushi Forest in Esan South East LGA, Edo State, led to the destruction of 10,590.36 kg cannabis spread on 4.236144 hectares of farmland. Suspects arrested during the operation include Benson Upuoni, 65; and Sunday Nwaeboyi, 35.
“In Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, October 15, arrested Andrew Joseph Anoriode with 3 kg methamphetamine and 1.90 kg cannabis along Lagos-Ibadan expressway, while 241 kg of same substance was recovered at Gbaji, Badagry area of the state. “A suspected meth cook, Agbeiboh Oscar, was nabbed the same Tuesday at Abule Osun with 265 grammes of methamphetamine and different quantities of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of methamphetamine and others.
“With the same vigour, commands and formations of the agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, and sensitisation activities to schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities, among others, in the past week. These include: WADA enlightenment lecture to students and staff of Ansarudeen Senior High School, Saki, Oyo State; Government Secondary School, Hayin Gwarmai, Bebeji LGA, Kano; Margaret Ekpo Secondary School, Calabar, Cross River; Agbaju Unuhu Community Secondary School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; and WADA advocacy visit to the Emir of Lafiagi, Alhaji Muhammad Kawu Kudu, Kwara State, among others.
“While commending the officers and men of MMIA, PHPC, Apapa, Lagos, Bauchi, Ondo, and Edo Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd), stated that their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country, especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts, are well appreciated.”
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