27th August, 2023
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), have arrested a 29-year-old South African, Erasmus Jean-Pierre at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja while attempting to export 2.6 kilograms of methamphetamine to Middle East.
The drugs were concealed in his luggage. He was arrested on Wednesday, 23rd August, 2023 by NDLEA operatives, with the illicit drugs recovered.
Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s spokesman, in a statement on Sunday, said the suspect was intercepted by the agency’s operatives during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 404 from Abuja to the Middle East via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
He disclosed that a thorough search of his luggage led to the discovery of the whitish powdery illicit substance factory packed 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,” he said.
Meanwhile, he revealed that NDLEA officers in Gombe state on patrol along Darazo road on Monday 21st August recovered an abandoned Volkswagen Sharon vehicle marked GME 76 XD containing a total of 373,420 pills of opioids, including tramadol and diazepam.
“In the same vein, operatives in Ogun state on Wednesday 23rd August raided the home of a drug dealer, Ifeanyi Orji in Ibafo area of the state where 81,000 tablets of tramadol 225mg weighing 32.4kgs were recovered.
“In Adamawa state, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday 22nd August 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. Equally, in Abuja the Federal Capital Territory, operatives 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 20th August while the second one weighing 577kgs was recovered during a stop and search operation along Lokoja- Abaji expressway 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,” he added.