Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 44-year-old businessman, Ezemokwe Chukwuebuka Christian, for ingesting cocaine weighing 1.172kg at the Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA) while en route to Tehran Khomeini, Islamic Republic of Iran.
This comes barely two weeks after the NDLEA intercepted a 60-year-old businessman, Chinedu Leonard Okigbo, with 65 pellets of cocaine in his stomach at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, also on his way to Iran.
The Director of Media and Advocacy of the anti-narcotics agency, Mr. Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement made available to Thelensng on Sunday.
“Ezemokwe was arrested at the Port Harcourt airport on Saturday 7th June while trying to board Qatar Airways flight QR1434 flying to Tehran Khomeini in Iran via Doha. After a body scan proved positive to ingestion of illicit drug, he was placed on excretion observation during which he expelled 53 wraps of cocaine in six excretions with a total weight of 1.172kg.
“The suspect claimed to have gone into the criminal trade two years ago, moving between the West African sub-region and Iran,” the statement noted.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, in the early hours of Saturday, June 14, intercepted an Italy bound passenger, Edobor Ambrose Ali, on an Air France flight.
The NDLEA officers, in collaboration with Aviation Security personnel of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), discovered drug consignments hidden in Ali’s luggage during baggage scanning at the tarmac.
Consequently, he was removed from the aircraft for baggage identification, after which a thorough search of his bag led to the discovery of 14, 410 pills of tramadol 225mg and 200mg, concealed in winter jackets.
In his statement, Ali said that he resides in Italy and was hired and sponsored on an all-expenses-paid trip to Nigeria to courier the drug consignments to Milan, Italy, for a fee of €2000.
At the Port Harcourt Ports Complex in Onne, Rivers State, NDLEA operatives on Friday, June 13, intercepted a shipment of 157,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup, worth over ₦1.1 billion in street value, during a joint examination of a watch-listed container with men of Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.
“The opioid consignments were hidden behind 257 cartons of ceramic sanitary wares,” Babafemi stated.
He also disclosed that three suspects – Friday Achibong Joseph, 47; Abraham Anthony Willy, 21; and Utibe David Okon, 24, were arrested on Thursday, June 12, when NDLEA operatives raided a warehouse in Obereakai, Odukpani LGA, Cross River State.
The spokesperson revealed that a total of 2,687kg skunk (a strain of cannabis) was recovered from the the suspects. On the same day, NDLEA officers, acting on credible intelligence, arrested the duo of Iriemi Imonikhe, 49, and Sa’idu Ladan, 30, along Bauchi -Jos Road in Bauchi State, after 195 blocks of skunk weighing 287kg were discovered in their Toyota Camry car, marked AKL 201 GG.
“While 14 jumbo sacks of skunk weighing 560kg were recovered from a wooden boat at Oniru beach in Lagos by operatives of the Marine Command of NDLEA on Thursday 12th June, officers of the Muhammadu Buhari International Airport Maiduguri (MBIAM) same day arrested two businessmen: Ishaku Abdullahi, 30; and Buba Usman, 32, at the arrival hall of the domestic wing of the airport with various quantities of ecstacy pills and skunk packaged in fanciful wraps labelled as ‘Lychee’ and ‘Porro Legal’,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy activities by NDLEA Commands continued across the country during the past week.
Some of these activities included WADA sensitisation lectures delivered to students and staff of Command Secondary School, Orba, Uden LGA, Enugu; Divine Gift International School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; Baptist Primary School, Ago-Are, Oyo; and St. Vincent Secondary School, Oti-Oron Okobo, Akwa Ibom State, among others.
Reacting to the arrests and seizures recorded over the past week, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, commended the officers and men of MMIA, PHIA, MBIAM, PHPC, Marine, Cross River, and Bauchi Commands of the Agency.
Marwa also praised their compatriots in all the commands across the country for pursuing a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
