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By Lawrence Agbo
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested several people and seized large amounts of cocaine, cannabis, and opiates after uncovering several drug trafficking enterprises in major airports, urban areas, and even a correctional facility.
Ibeanu Chukwudulue, 34, a Nigerian businessman living in China, was stopped at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja as he boarded a Qatar Airways flight to China via Doha.
In response to intelligence, NDLEA agents scanned his body and found that he had used illegal narcotics. 52 wraps of cocaine, weighing 735.95 grams, were later expelled by him.
Two Angolan citizens, Mbandu Makiadi, 50, and Ngoma Fernando, 52, were detained at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport that same day when they were getting cleared to board an aircraft to Istanbul. They had also ingested drugs, according to body scans. Fernando ejected 108 wraps weighing 1.33 kilograms, while Makiadi evacuated 76 pellets weighing 920 grams.
The suspects said they were guaranteed $3,000 apiece to deliver the shipments in Turkey, according to NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi.
An attempt to carry 1.1 kilograms of cocaine to London hidden inside garri was thwarted by agents at the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
According to investigations, a convicted narcotics trafficker serving a five-year term allegedly organized the cargo from the Ikoyi Correctional Center.
Further investigations revealed how the operation was remotely controlled from custody, and an employee who presented the shipment for export was apprehended.
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Officers stopped an effort to export 1.7 kilograms of skunk concealed inside jerry cans headed for the UK in another airport operation. The suspected mastermind and a freight agent were captured.
An Enugu package containing a children’s toy guitar that had been altered to hide 59.2 grams of the powerful cannabis strain “Canadian Loud” was confiscated by the NDLEA in Abuja. The intended recipient was arrested in Life Camp as a result of a follow-up operation.
In the meantime, the NDLEA busted a four-bedroom duplex that was used as a production facility for Colorado, a synthetic cannabis variety known as “Colos,” in the Lekki neighborhood of Lagos.
Following the raid, 73 cartons of nitrous oxide connected to the supply chain were seized. Officers dismantled what officials described as a major urban drug production hub by recovering 13.2 kilograms of newly created synthetic cannabis and precursor chemicals.
A 45-year-old lady was detained in Ibadan with two cars, 320 grams of methamphetamine, more than one kilogram of synthetic cannabis and skunk, and about ₦3 million in cash.
Along the Bode Saadu corridor in Kwara State, officers stopped a car transporting 105,400 tramadol pills and took the driver into custody.
A forest raid in Edo State’s Ovia North East Local Government Area resulted in the recovery of 563.5 kg of skunk and the arrest of five individuals.
Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd.), the chairman and chief executive officer of NDLEA, praised officers for intelligence-driven operations and called for continued enforcement efforts in conjunction with the organization’s nationwide War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization initiatives.
