NDLEA Seizes Europe- Bound 58kg Cocaine, Meth At Lagos, Abuja Airports

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agen­cy (NDLEA) have intercepted consignments of illicit drugs including cocaine, metham­phetamine and its precursor chemical, ephedrine going to the United Kingdom, Sau­di Arabia, New Zealand and Cyprus at the Murtala Mu­hammed International Air­port (MMIA), Lagos; Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and some courier com­panies.

A statement by Femi Babafemi, the agency’s spokes­man, said at least three traders at the Trade Fair Complex in Ojo area of Lagos, Nwudele Basil Christopher; Chiedu Ez­enwani Francis, and Donatus Nwojiji, have been arrested in connection with attempts to export 52.10 kilogrammes of ephedrine, a precursor chem­ical and active ingredient for the production of meth­amphetamine, concealed in bunches of fishing threads and packed among other items in jumbo sacks that were inter­cepted at the SAHCO export shed of the Lagos airport on Sunday, January 31 and Mon­day, February 1.

It said it took the painstak­ing efforts of NDLEA officers and deployment of sniffer dogs to be able to discover the com­plex mode of concealment of the illicit substance.

At the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, vigilant operatives of the agency on Monday, Febru­ary 13, intercepted a 29-year-old Apeh Kelvin Ogbonna while attempting to board Turkish airline flight TK0624 going through Istanbul to Cy­prus, with 4.5 kilogrammes of methamphetamine concealed in false bottoms of his travel­ling bag.

It said the suspect claimed he was running a boutique business in Enugu before he decided to travel to Cyprus for a degree in Business Adminis­tration.

“At three different courier firms in Lagos, operatives in­tercepted two cocaine consign­ments weighing 400 grammes each, going to United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. They were hidden in walls of cartons used for packaging. Two other consignments containing 500 grammes and 100 grammes of methamphetamine were also blocked from being shipped to New Zealand after they were discovered concealed in food items.

“No fewer than 2,684,900 pills of tramadol and other pharmaceutical opioids were seized by operatives during in­terdiction operations in some states in the past week.

“In Adamawa, a total of 250,000 pills of tramadol and exol-5 as well as 1800ml of co­deine neatly concealed in the reserve fuel tank of a trailer from Onitsha, Anambra State, were seized at Mubi and a dealer, Hussaini Ibrahim (a.k.a Bafu) arrested.