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•Agency arrests 185 at Abuja, Kano drug joints
From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has disclosed that the two businessmen arrested by its operatives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja, for cocaine ingestion have both excreted 193 pellets of the illicit drug after three days in observatory custody.
The traffickers: Onoh Ebere, 49, and Christian Ifeanyi Ogbuji, 47, were intercepted at the Abuja airport last Wednesday upon their arrival from Uganda via Addis Ababa, onboard Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 951.
NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, in a statement, yesterday, said though both suspects have businesses they manage in Nigeria, their main source of income has been drug trafficking.
Babafemi said: “They both travelled to Uganda and from there crossed over to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where they picked the consignments before returning to Abuja with Lagos as their final destination. After days in the excretion room, Ebere Onoh excreted a total of 100 pellets weighing 2.137kg, while Christian Ifeanyi Ogbuji expelled 93 pellets hidden in his stomach with a gross weight of 1.986kg.”
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives have raided two notorious drug joints, Zaro bunk in Bama road, Sabongari and the Sani Abacha indoor stadium, both in Kano metropolis, where a total of 160 suspects were arrested with different quantities of illicit substances. Also, two suspects: Abubakar Sallau, 55, and Nazifi Abdullahi, 25, were arrested on Saturday, along Kano-Maiduguri road, with 5,000 pills of tramadol 200mg, while a total of 65,200 tablets of tramadol and exol-5 were seized from the duo of Adamu Nagati, 30, and Ali Nasiru, 35.
This is even as operatives in Abuja also arrested 25 suspects in raids across Tora Bora, Gwarinpa village, 3rd Avenue in Gwarinpa, Karamo, Garki market, Sabongari Bwari and New Kucigoro IDP camp, within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Another bid to smuggle into Lagos a consignment of 24 kilogrammes of cannabis indica concealed in imported used cars from Canada was, again, frustrated by NDLEA operatives who seized the illicit substance last Thursday, during a joint 100 per cent examination of a container marked, MSMU 7412069, at the Prime Connection Bonded Terminal, off Oshodi-Apapa expressway. Two clearing agents linked with the container, Chief G.O. Njoku and Mr. Christopher Obialor, has been arrested, in collaboration with men of Customs Service.
In the same vein, operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI), attached to courier firms, have intercepted a Saudi Arabia-bound 398grams of cocaine hidden in native dresses during outward clearance of goods.
A female suspect, Fatima Hassan, was arrested last Friday, at Agege, Lagos, with 33.5 kilograms of cannabis sativa, while 44 kilograms of the same substance was recovered the same day from the Lagos Island warehouse of a fleeing drug dealer. The previous day, another suspect, Peter Joseph was arrested along Lagos-Ibadan expressway with 10,000 pills of tramadol 250mg and 1,500 tablets of rohypnol concealed inside his Toyota Sienna vehicle, with registration number NRK 961XB.
Similarly, a total of 68, 300 pills of various opioids, mainly tramadol, were recovered from one Bello Nasiru Usman when the truck conveying the illicit drugs was intercepted in Awka, Anambra State. In the same vein, 460,000mls of Akuskura in 7,800 bottles were seized from a dealer, Mohammed Kyari, 42, when he was arrested in Gamboru Ngala town, Jere LGA, Borno State, last Wednesday.
While NDLEA operatives supported by soldiers raided the hideout of a notorious drug dealer, Jimoh Lekan (aka ‘komokomo’) in Owode, Ogun State, where 134 kilograms of cannabis was recovered from his store last Thursday, their counterparts in Plateau State, last Tuesday, arrested a suspect, Bashir Usman, 32, at the Gangare area of Jos with 43.951 kilograms of cannabis.
While commending the officers and men of NAIA, Tincan, Kano, FCT, Lagos, Ogun, Taraba, Borno, Plateau and Anambra commands of the agency as well as those of DOGI for their resilience, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (retd) urged them and their peers across the country to intensify their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction activities.
