By Peter Dansu The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has listed a warehouse in Badagry, Lagos State, among several major locations where...
By Peter Dansu
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has listed a warehouse in Badagry, Lagos State, among several major locations where illicit drugs were recovered during coordinated nationwide operations carried out last week.
The anti-narcotics agency disclosed that operatives attached to the Seme border command recovered 59 kilograms of skunk from a warehouse located in Mowo area of Badagry on Tuesday, May 19. The operation formed part of intensified crackdowns targeting drug trafficking networks across the country.
According to the NDLEA, the Badagry seizure came amid a string of arrests and recoveries recorded in Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Kano, Edo and Ekiti states, as the agency continued its war against illicit drug trafficking and abuse.
Among those arrested was a 63-year-old Malaysian woman identified as Ting Hung Kiong, who was intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, while allegedly attempting to smuggle 31 kilograms of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, into Nigeria.
NDLEA operatives stationed at the Terminal 2 Arrival Hall of the airport arrested the suspect after she arrived from Thailand through Dubai aboard an Emirates Airline flight.
Investigations revealed that the woman travelled from Malaysia to Thailand before heading to Nigeria through the United Arab Emirates. Authorities said two large suitcases containing the illicit substance were recovered from her.
During interrogation, the suspect reportedly claimed that she worked as a caregiver in Malaysia and that her daughter sponsored the trip. She added that she spent two weeks in Thailand before receiving the drug consignment for delivery in Nigeria.
In another major operation, NDLEA officers, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service, intercepted 29 cartons containing 1,825,710 tablets of Tapentadol 250mg at the import shed of the Lagos airport. The consignment, which arrived from India aboard an Emirates Cargo flight, was estimated to be worth over N2.19 billion.
At the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, operatives also arrested a suspect, Onyeka Emeka, during the inward clearance of passengers arriving from Sierra Leone through Addis Ababa. The suspect was later observed excreting 185.36 grammes of cocaine.
Similarly, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, a 29-year-old building engineer, Babatunde Afekhide, was arrested while attempting to board a flight to Milan, Italy. NDLEA officers recovered 10,280 pills of Tramaking, Tramadol and Tapentadol concealed inside a suitcase.
The agency also intercepted illicit drug consignments hidden inside parcels meant for export to the Netherlands, the United States and the United Kingdom through a Lagos courier company.
In Edo State, NDLEA operatives raided the Igwe community in Owan East Local Government Area, where they recovered 59 jumbo bags of skunk weighing 489 kilograms alongside cannabis seeds.
Another suspect, Isah Sani, was arrested along the Zaria-Kano Road with 196,000 pills of Exol-5, while operatives in Ekiti State recovered 1,116 kilograms of skunk from a warehouse in Ikole-Ekiti and arrested a 54-year-old suspect, Ogundana Adebayo Julius.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Mohammed Marwa, commended officers across the various commands for the successful operations and urged them to sustain the momentum in the fight against drug trafficking and abuse across the country.
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