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By Emma Njoku
A consignment of 26.150kilograms of heroin with a street value of over N6.5 billion has been intercepted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), at the SAHCO shed of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
NDLEA’s Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, who confirmed the development in a statement, yesterday, said the illicit drug had arrived Lagos in 25 parcels from South Africa, through an Air Peace Airline flight on June 30, 2021, and was detained for screening, following reasonable suspicion of the content of the consignment.
He said there was a follow up operation the next day by narcotic officers of the MMIA command, who trailed the driver and a clearing agent that were assigned to deliver the consignment to the house of a baron, Tony Chidi Onwurolu, at No. 132 Lateef Adegboyega Street, off Ago palace way, by Grandmate bus stop, Okota, Lagos.
“During the follow up operation, Tony Chidi Onwurolu, who obviously mounted a counter-surveillance around his neighbourhood fled his home before the arrival of the team of operatives who stormed his residence. They were, however, able to search his home and recover a number of documents to establish his true identity,” Babafemi disclosed in the statement.
Following the development, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd), has directed that the fleeing drug baron be declared wanted, immediately, and his details submitted to Interpol, for tracking across the world.
He, therefore, directed the agency’s Directorate of Assets and Financial Investigations, as well as the Directorate of Intelligence to deploy their networks to fast track the arrest of Onwurolu.
Marwa said in view of the volume of heroin brought into the country by the fleeing baron, the agency would deploy all available mechanisms, locally and internationally, to track him and bring him to face charges in the law court.
“Those, who have been on the run for 10 years and some for five years, have since tracked them and are now facing charges, while cooling their heels behind bars. The latest one won’t be an exception, because he can only run but can’t hide for too long before we get him”, Marwa vowed.
In the same vein, operatives of the Command also intercepted a 4.3kg of skunk imported from Canada. The package, which came on Ethiopian Airline, was concealed in nine packs of cereals.
