The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has explained how a South African, 29, Erasmus Jean–Pierre, who flew into Nigeria through Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire to obtain 2.6 Kilograms of methamphetamine for trafficking was nabbed.
The substance was discovered during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 404 from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja to the Middle East via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the agency said.
A statement by the agency, signed by its spokesperson, Femi Babafemi on Sunday, revealed that the illicit substance had a factory pack view, and it was concealed 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,” the statement said.
Other cases of illicit drug possession were recorded in Gombe, Adamawa, Kwara, Edo and Lagos States respectively, even as the NDLEA said its operatives intercepted an estimated total of 1,343.8kg skunk and 514,420 pills of opioids in the past week.
In Gombe, NDLEA officers in Gombe state on patrol along Darazo road on Monday recovered an abandoned Volkswagen Sharon vehicle marked GME 76 XD containing a total of 373,420 pills of opioids including tramadol and diazepam.
In Ogun State, on Wednesday, narcotic officers raided the home of a drug dealer, Ifeanyi Orji in the Ibafo area of the state where 81,000 tablets of tramadol 225mg weighing 32.4kgs were recovered.
In Adamawa State, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday 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.
In Abuja, NDLEA operatives had 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 while the second one weighing 577 kgs was recovered during a stop and search operation along Lokoja- Abaji expressway the 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 Jebba – Minna road on Tuesday, 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, the NDLEA said.
Also, operatives in Edo State, had stormed the Uzebba forest in Owan West local government area of the state, where they arrested Esazobor Ohioze, 33, with 54.3kgs cannabis.
The substance was 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,” the statement said.
