…Intercepts 1,343.8kg skunk, ketamine going to UK, Indonesia, others
…Seizes 514,420 pills of opioids in Gombe, Adamawa, Ogun raids
By Abdallah el-Kurebe
ASHENEWS reports that the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 29-year-old South African, Erasmus Jean–Pierre, and recovered 2.6 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed in his luggage.
A statement by the Director of Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi emailed to ASHENEWS on Sunday, said Jean-Pierre was attempting to export the illicit drug to the Middle East through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja on Wednesday.
According to Babafemi, “The suspect was intercepted by NDLEA operatives during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 404 from Abuja to the Middle East via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A thorough search of his luggage led to the discovery of the whitish powdery illicit substance factory packed in different parts of the bag.
“Preliminary investigation reveals that the suspect arrived Lagos through Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire on Saturday 19th August, came to Abuja on Tuesday 22nd August, and took possession of the brown bag containing the drug consignment on Wednesday 23rd August before heading to the Abuja airport for his flight out of Nigeria.”
In another development, the NDLEA operatives in Gombe state, who were on patrol along Darazo road on Monday 21st August, “recovered an abandoned Volkswagen Sharon vehicle marked GME 76 XD, and containing a total of 373,420 pills of opioids, including tramadol and diazepam.
In the same vein, operatives in Ogun state on Wednesday 23rd August raided the home of a drug dealer, Ifeanyi Orji in Ibafo area of the state where 81,000 tablets of tramadol 225mg weighing 32.4kgs were recovered.
In Adamawa state, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday 22nd August recovered 60,000 pills of tramadol from a suspect, Ibrahim Abba, 25, who was travelling in a commercial Toyota Starlet car from Kalaa village to Mubi. Equally, in Abuja the Federal Capital Territory, operatives intercepted two consignments of skunk with a gross weight of 1, 242.1 kilograms.
“The first consignment of 665.1kgs was seized from a truck around Area 3 on Sunday 20th August while the second one weighing 577kgs was recovered during a stop and search operation along Lokoja- Abaji expressway same day. The consignment was concealed in Jumia goods delivery packs inside a container Mercedes truck, whose driver, Yusuf Yakubu Asokomhe, and his assistant, Tunde Ogundare, were arrested.
In Kwara state, operatives on patrol along along Jebba – Minna road on Tuesday 22nd August, intercepted a commercial truck conveying goods from Lagos to Katsina with 37.5kgs of cannabis sativa hidden among other items. The driver, Abdulazeez Usman and his assistant, Halidu Musa were arrested for further investigation.
Similarly, in Yobe state, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday 23rd August intercepted an ash colour Sharon Galaxy vehicle marked AKK 484 XA along Potiskum-Gombe road coming from Baissa, Kurmi local government area of Taraba state. Three suspects in the vehicle: Ya’u Yahuza, 30; Yahaya Muhd, 29, and Tanimu Salisu, 20, were arrested with 133 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 62kgs.
Operatives in Edo on Thursday, 24th August stormed the Uzebba forest in Owan West local government area of the state, where they arrested Esazobor Ohioze, 33, with 54.3kgs cannabis recovered from a hut while a total of 2.995696 hectares of cannabis farms were destroyed.
Efforts by transnational drug cartels to move a consignment of 117 grams of ketamine neatly concealed in a pair of leather male slippers being shipped to Indonesia and 2.14 kilograms of skunk clinically hidden in the walls of a local wooden drum, were equally frustrated by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, attached to courier firms in Lagos.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, retired Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, commended the efforts of the officers and men of the NAIA, Gombe, Ogun, Adamawa, FCT, Kwara, Yobe, Edo Commands as well as those of DOGI for a job well done in the past week.
He also charged them and their colleagues across the country to intensify their drug supply reduction operations and equally balance that with drug demand reduction activities.
