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Nabs 2 UK citizens
By Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted no fewer than six million pills of opioids, namely tamol 225mg, tapentadol 225mg, and carisoprodol 225mg, as well as 332,000 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup with a combined street value of N6,524,000,000 at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers, and the Apapa seaport, Lagos.
The seizures at the Apapa and Onne ports followed intelligence and tracking of new trafficking routes to ship illicit substances into Nigeria by drug cartels, which necessitated the watch-listing of the containers for 100 per cent examination.
The consignments at the Port Harcourt ports – six million pills of opioids and 162,000 bottles of codeine syrup – were uncovered in two containers on Monday, May 19, and Tuesday, May 20, 2025, during a joint examination of the shipments by NDLEA officers with men of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.
At the Apapa port in Lagos, a total of 170,000 bottles of codeine syrup were discovered in a watch-listed container by NDLEA operatives during a similar joint examination exercise on Thursday, May 22.
Meanwhile, two UK citizens, Mhizha Jordan Alexander Tatendra and Ayedipe Andrew Adejuwon, as well as two Nigerians, Shonowo Oluwaseun Imole and Ofuoma Omokaro Ayobami, have been arrested by NDLEA operatives for attempting to smuggle into Nigeria 92 bags of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis weighing 51.10kg, through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
Alexander was intercepted with the consignment upon his arrival at the MMIA on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha, based on processed intelligence, on Thursday, May 15. He was allowed to pass through security control unhindered and closely monitored by NDLEA operatives to the car park, where the owner of the cargo, Ayedipe Andrew Adejuwon, a UK citizen of Nigerian descent, was waiting in an SUV along with his relation, Shonowo Oluwaseun Imole, and the driver of the vehicle, Ofuoma Omokaro Ayobami, to receive the courier.
The NDLEA operatives tracking them swooped on them as they attempted to drive out of the airport car park, arresting them with the drug exhibits in the vehicle.
In his statement, Alexander confessed he was recruited during his vacation weeks ago and was promised 1,300 British Pounds after a successful delivery of the consignment in Lagos.
The arrowhead of the syndicate, Ayedipe Andrew Adejuwon, confessed that he arrived in Nigeria a day earlier from South Africa through Ghana. A follow-up operation at their apartment in Lekki led to more discoveries. At the point of his arrest, ₦93,000 and 17,200 South African Rand were recovered from him, while a search of his Lekki apartment led to the seizure of ₦3,810,500 in cash, an Apple laptop, an iPhone 14 Pro Max, and four laughing gas (nitrous oxide) canisters.
A total of 75,000 kilograms of skunk were destroyed on 30 hectares of cannabis farms by NDLEA operatives at Esuk-Odot village in Odukpani LGA, Cross River State, where 200kg of the same substance was recovered on Wednesday, May 22, while 1,957.5kg of the same psychoactive plant was destroyed at Ohosu forest, Ovia South West LGA, and Okhuse community forest, Owan West LGA, Edo State, on Friday, May 23, and Saturday, May 24.
In Nasarawa State, two suspects, Sunday Daniel, 51, and Abu Peter, 30, were arrested at Keffi by NDLEA operatives on Saturday, May 24, when 4,000 kilograms of skunk were discovered concealed under unprocessed wood in their lorry, while another suspect, Godwin Obi, 39, was nabbed at Karu with 154.5kg of the same substance on Wednesday, May 21.
In Kaduna, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Kaduna-Zaria expressway at Gwargwaje on Wednesday, May 21, intercepted 22-year-old Muhammad Hamza with 57,750 pills of tramadol and diazepam, while on the same day, their counterparts in Bauchi arrested Usman Muhammad, 45, along Bauchi-Misau road with 80 blocks of skunk weighing 45kg.
Similarly, operatives on stop-and-search operations along Potiskum-Damaturu road, Yobe State, intercepted 55 parcels of Colorado, weighing 2kg, which a suspect, Adum Muhammed, 29, was attempting to smuggle into the Republic of Chad through Ngamboru Ngala border town in Borno State.
In Niger State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Mokwa-Jebba road on Thursday, May 22, intercepted a Mercedes Benz car marked FST 938 FU loaded with 235 blocks of compressed cannabis sativa weighing 97kg and arrested a suspect, Adams Ayibakro.
This is even as operatives in Lagos raided the Osapa London area of Lekki, where they arrested a suspect, Jonathan Isa, with different quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, molly, rohypnol, codeine, cannabis, and nitrous oxide, while another raid at Idasun, Eleko, Ibeju Lekki, on Saturday, May 24, led to the arrest of Olamilekan Idowu and seizure of 48kg skunk.
The War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy activities by NDLEA Commands continued across the country in the past week. Some of them include WADA sensitisation lectures delivered to students and staff of Adamu Babbale Government Secondary School, Dimirkol, Katsina; Mary Hanney Secondary School, Oron, Akwa Ibom; Nnodo Secondary School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; Government Secondary School, Guyuk, Adamawa; and Government Girls Islamic Secondary School, Gwagwarwa, Kano, while the Lagos State command of NDLEA paid a WADA advocacy visit to the Sarkin Fulani of Lagos, Alhaji Muhammadu Bambado, among others.
While commending the officers and men of PHPC, MMIA, Apapa, Nasarawa, Cross River, Edo, Lagos, Niger, Kaduna, Yobe, and Bauchi Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for ensuring a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.