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…. As NDLEA intercepts N2.2billion codeine bottles at Lagos port; smashes 5-member ladies drug trafficking gang, arrests 2 others for online sales of drug laced cookies, cakes in Edo

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

An Onitsha, Anambra state based-businessman, Ibeanusi Solomon Nosike, has excreted 68 wraps of cocaine after 12 days of excretion observation following his arrest at the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.

The 36-year-old Ibeanusi was arrested in the early hours of Thursday 8th August 2024 at the old domestic terminal of the Lagos airport while attempting to board the first flight out of Lagos to Abuja where he was scheduled to join a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja at about 10am same day.
The suspect who came under NDLEA surveillance following intelligence had arrived Lagos from his base in Onitsha, Anambra state the previous day, 7th August and lodged in a hotel where he swallowed the 68 wraps of cocaine before heading to the airport for a 6:30am flight the following morning. He was thereafter intercepted by NDLEA operatives who moved him into excretion observation where he spent the next 12 days excreting the cocaine pellets weighing 1.282 kilograms.

Another Vietnam-bound businessman, 54-year-old Paul Okwuy Mbadugha had been arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Abuja airport on Monday 12th August 2024 during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam via Doha after he tested positive to ingestion of cocaine. After four days under observation, Mbadugha egested a total of 88 wraps of the illicit drug with a gross weight of 1.710 kilograms.

In the same vein, another Onitsha based businessman, Aligbo Chukwudi Jacob has been arrested by NDLEA operatives following the seizure of a consignment of 1.20kg cannabis concealed in a package going to Dubai, UAE. Operatives at the MMIA Strategic Command of the Agency had intercepted the shipment at the export shed of the Lagos airport while investigations revealed the cargo was sent through a courier company in Onitsha. After series of follow up operations, Aligbo was eventually arrested in Onitsha on Saturday 17th August.

Meanwhile, operatives of a Special Operations Unit in NDLEA have arrested five cross-border female drug traffickers at the Seme border while on their way back to Lagos from Ghana. Leader of the syndicate, 42-year-old Olaribigbe Bashirat Feyisara has been under NDLEA radar before being tracked and arrested on Wednesday 21st August along with other members of her gang: Abogun Fatimah Ladidi; Osibeluwo Tolulope Oluwaseun; Akanni Balikis Oluwatoyin and Ajetumobi Amudalat.
At the point of their arrest at the Seme border, a total of 14 packs of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, weighing a total of 6.97kg, were recovered from hidden parts of their bodies.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives at the Tincan seaport in Lagos on Friday 23rd August intercepted two containers which came from Mundra port in India. No fewer than 1,596 cartons of codeine-based syrup containing 319, 200 bottles of the opioid worth Two Billion Two Hundred and Thirty-Four Million Four Hundred Thousand Naira (N2,234,400,000.00) in street value were recovered from the containers during a joint examination with other port stakeholders.
Two ladies were arrested by operatives in Edo state for online sales of illicit drugs.

While Martha Owotorofa, 26, was nabbed at Kada Plaza, Benin city with quantities of Canadian Loud, Odion Uzordinma, 21, was arrested at Ugbowo area of the city with 30 cups of cookies and 17 slices of cake, all laced with illicit substances.

A raid operation at Oghada village, Uhunmwonde local government area of the state on Tuesday 20th August led to the arrest of Saturday Edobor, 50, with 288.8kg cannabis.
In Lagos, a suspect Godwill Davidson was on Wednesday 21st August arrested with 3,834 bottles of codeine syrup; 5,200 pills of Co-Codamol; and 11, 880 tablets of Rohypnol in Mushin area of the state, while another suspect, Yahaya Ibrahim, 23, was nabbed by operatives along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway, Kogi state same day with 42,000 pills of tramadol coming from Asaba, Delta State enroute Potiskum, Yobe state.
Two suspects: Feranmi Bankole, 25, and Fredrick Tobiloba, 25, were on Tuesday 20th August arrested at Pariz Lounge, Adeoyo area in Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State following intelligence. Recovered from them were 267.5 litres of skuchies, a mixture of black currant and assorted illicit drugs and 18 grams of Canadian Loud.
In the same vein, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week. These include: WADA enlightenment lecture to pupils of Dan Amus Sangaya school, Sabon Layi, Gombi, Adamawa state; workers of transport companies in Garki Enugu, Enugu state; students and staff of Kaduna State School of Nursing, Kaduna, and WADA advocacy visit to the management of Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Ogun state.
While commending the officers and men of the Special Operations Units, MMIA, Tincan, Lagos, and Edo Commands for the arrests, seizures and their dexterity, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency.