30th October, 2022
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have arrested a 27-year-old Madu Chukwuemeka Miracle with cocaine hidden in bathing soap.
Miracle was arrested at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, AIIA, Enugu on arrival from Nairobi, Kenya via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Wednesday 26th Oct.
A search of his three bags revealed seventy-six (76) foreign bathing soaps made with cocaine in one of the bags while another has two plastic bottles containing cream-like liquid, which tested positive for cocaine.
The cocaine bars weigh 10.650 kilograms while the liquid cocaine weighs 2.496 kilograms, bringing the total weight to 13.146 kilograms.
In another operation in Kogi state, NDLEA operatives on a stop and search operation along the Okene-Abuja highway on Thursday 27th Oct intercepted a Chisco branded bus coming from Lagos to Abuja with a consignment of 32.9kgs Meth packaged as tubers of yam; 376 grams of cocaine and 215 grams of heroin.
While the bus driver, Chief Pascal Chigozie Nmaram was promptly arrested, a follow-up operation in Abuja same day led to the arrest of the recipient of the illicit cargo, Mr. Ikenna Jude Akunne who confessed he was detailed to travel with the consignment to Spain following day, Friday 28th Oct through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.
Meanwhile, operatives of the Kogi state command of the agency also destroyed five hectares of cannabis farms at Agbonkete, Iyaya Camp, Igalamela/Odolu LGA, where a suspect, Augustine Agbenyo, 34, was arrested with three sacks of both fresh and dried leaves and stems of the illicit substance.
In other operations, operatives of NDLEA seized 146,000 pills of Tramadol 225mg in a buy and bust operation in the Oshodi area of Lagos state on Tuesday 25th Oct. The village head of Gidan Abba village, in Bodinga local government area of Sokoto State, Abubakar Ibrahim, 38, was arrested in Bodinga town same day with 3kgs of cannabis sativa and 4,000 tablets of exol-5.
In the FCT, operatives on patrol along the Kwali-Abuja highway on Monday 24th Oct intercepted a truck with 915.8kilograms of cannabis and arrested three suspects: Kabiru Ibrahim, 40; Muhammad Muawiyya, 30, and Adamu Adamu, 24.
In Adamawa state, operatives arrested two trans-border traffickers, Abdullahi Mamuda (aka Mama) and Aliyu Abdullahi (aka Garga) at Skylight Hotel in Jambutu, Yola North. A search of their vehicle, an ash-colored Toyota Corolla car with registration number JMT 146 TE (Adamawa), revealed 39, 320 tablets of Tramadol 225mg concealed in different compartments of the doors of the car.
Preliminary investigation shows the trans-border traffickers took off from Onitsha in Anambra State and traveled to Jimeta, Adamawa State where they lodged in the hotel before heading to Belel, a town along the Nigerian – Cameroon border where they would repackage the drugs as ordinary consumables and ferry across the river to Garoa in Cameroon. Operatives in Ondo state on Friday 28th Oct stormed a 2-bedroom building in Uso town, where they arrested one Okon Etim, 45, with 12 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 207kgs.
Reacting to the strings of arrests and seizures in the past week across Kogi, Lagos, Sokoto, Adamawa, Ondo and the FCT as well as the MMIA and AIIA Commands of the Agency, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), CON, OFR, commended the officers and men of the various commands for their unrelenting commitment to the presidential mandate to clear Nigerian forests and communities of illicit drugs in whatever form.
He charged them to remain steadfast and upright at all times.