… over attempt to ingest 76 wraps of cocaine
…intercepts illicit consignments heading to Borno, Kano, Abuja; arrests 33 suspects in Lagos, FCT, Kano, Kwara, Kogi, Taraba raids

Attempt by 26-year-old Esther Onyinyechi Uzodinma, a 200-level student of nursing at the Noida International University, Uttar Pradesh, India, to swallow 76 wraps of cocaine hours before her return flight to the South Asian country through the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, MAKIA, Kano, has been thwarted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.

Esther was scheduled to return to Delhi, India from MAKIA Kano on Qatar Airways flight 1432 on Friday 17th January 2025 but was arrested in her room at 11:30pm on Thursday 16th January at Royal Park Hotel Sabon Garin Kano, while awaiting the cocaine consignment she was to ingest before her flight the following morning.

Her lid was blown open when NDLEA operatives on patrol along Okene-Lokoja highway in Kogi state on Thursday 16th January intercepted 31-year-old Cosmas Okorie in a commuter bus coming from Lagos enroute Kano. Inside his black polythene bag was an audio speaker, which was used to conceal 76 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.340 kilograms, which he was going to deliver to Esther in Kano. A swift follow up operation in Kano led to the arrest of the female nursing university student later same day.

In her statement, Esther claimed the drug cartel she was working for recruited her in India and paid for her trip to Nigeria to enjoy her Christmas and New Year holidays.

To avoid her parents knowing she was in Nigeria, Esther did not travel to her home state, Imo but was lodged for two weeks in a hotel in Enugu, from where she was flown to Abuja and then Kano where she was lodged at Royal Park Hotel to swallow the 76 pellets of cocaine sent to her from Lagos before taking her Qatar Airways flight to India on Friday morning. She said she was promised over $5,000 upon successful delivery of the illicit consignment in India.

In other operations along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja highway, NDLEA officers arrested four suspects: Abdullahi Umar; Tijjani Samaila; Lucky Obotte and Abubakar Haruna, who were heading to Maiduguri, Borno state, Kano, and Abuja in commuter vehicles with over 38,000 pills of tramadol 225mg, 250mg and 100mg concealed in audio speakers and cloths.

In Lagos, operatives of a special operations unit of the Agency on Tuesday 14th January raided the hideout of a 59-year-old Nwokedi Emeka Jonas in Ojodu-Berger area of the state where they recovered 10 parcels of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 4.9kg as well as different paper bags he uses in dispensing the psychoactive substance in retail quantities. Printed on them include street names and codes such as ‘Dead man’; ‘Gelato top shelf smoke’; ‘Topshelf’; and ‘Gelato cake’

In other operations in Lagos, operatives of the state Command of the Agency on Wednesday 15th January raided a house in Igando New Town area of Alimosho where they arrested three suspects: Isaac Vincent, 32; Ebube Ikechi, 25; and Christopher Usifoh, 43, from whom 1,610kg skunk, a strain of cannabis and 6kg pills of tramadol were recovered. Also recovered from the house were a delivery van and three other vehicles used for distributing the illicit drugs.

Two suspects: Olashile Okoya and Mohammed Ibrahim were arrested on Saturday 18th January when NDLEA officers raided their home at 5A Addison Palmer, Cadogan Estate, Castle Rock Avenue, Osapa, Lekki Lagos, where 28 kilograms of Cannadian Loud were recovered following credible intelligence.

Not less than 67kg skunk was seized from Saheed Sulaiman on Thursday 16th January when NDLEA operatives raided his Edumare street, Lagos Island hideout, while various quantities of assorted illicit substances were recovered from Adamu Abdullahi on Tuesday 14th January when Jerry Irabi Estate, Lekki hideout was raided by NDLEA officers. They include 3.7 litres of codeine syrup; 10,000 pills of tramadol; 1,670 tablets of rohypnol; 6.5kg cannabis; 3,100 tablets of diazepam; 10,090 tablets of Molly; 5,500 tabs of Exol-5; 1.2kg crisps of wrapped methamphetamine and a monetary exhibit of ₦623,650.00.

In Kano, two suspects: Usama Adamu, 25, and Isah Ibrahim, 29, were on Friday 17th January
arrested at Dawanau, Dawakin Tofa LGA where a total of 7.6kg skunk, 78 tubes of rubber solution and 356 bottles of ‘suck and die’, a new psychoactive substance were recovered from them.

In another raid in Kano, Usman Isa, 29, was nabbed along Zaria road with 114 blocks of skunk weighing 49.8kg.

Three suspects: Lawali Isiaka, Umoru Isiaka and Mohammed Kabiru were on Wednesday 15th January arrested by NDLEA operatives with 390 tablets of Molly and 65.5kg of cannabis at Bode Saadu in Moro Local Government Area of Kwara State, while Samuel Ogbu, 24, was nabbed with 25,000 pills of tramadol by operatives along Wukari- Zaki Ibiam road, Wukari LGA, Taraba state.

In series of raids in Abuja, a suspect, Rufa’i Hashimu, 27, was arrested at Gwarimpa village area of the FCT with 118 bottles of codeine-based syrup, while 13 others were nabbed in other locations such as: Area1 IDP camp, Gishiri, Zuba, Dei -Dei, AYA, Lagos Street Garki, Karu, and Lugbe.

Recovered from them include different quantities of tramadol, diazepam, and methamphetamine.
With the same vigour, 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 sensitisation lecture to students and staff of NUD Basic Primary School, Orile-Igbon, Oyo state; Corpus Christi College, Ilawe Ekiti; Holy Family International Schools, Calabar; Kudam Islamic School, Osogbo; Business Apprenticeship Training Centre, Kankia, Katsina, while Abia state command of NDLEA paid a WADA advocacy visit to Governor Alex Otti, among others.

While commending the officers and men of Lagos, Kogi, SOPU, Kano, Kwara, FCT, and Taraba Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) urged them and their compatriots across the country not to rest on their oars as they intensify their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.

Two top judges in Iran were shot dead on Saturday in what has been reported as a targeted assassination directed at the Islamic regime’s enablers in the country’s Supreme Court.

The two judges, Ali Razini and Mohammad Moghiseh were killed after an armed man entered the court, in Tehran, Iran’s capital on Saturday morning.

The attacker was said to have then killed himself while fleeing the scene, according to the judiciary’s news website, Mizan. A bodyguard was also injured in the attack.

The motive for the attack is unclear, but both judges are said to have played a role in the persecution and killing of opponents of the Islamic regime throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

In a statement to state news agency IRNA, the judiciary’s media office described the attack as premeditated assassination.

It also said that, according to initial findings, the attacker had not been involved in any case considered by the supreme court, and an investigation had been launched to identify and arrest any further people who may have been involved in the attack.

The judiciary’s spokesman, Asghar Jahangir, told Iranian state TV that the attacker had entered the court carrying a handgun before opening fire.

One of the judges, Razini, had survived an assassination attempt in 1998 that shook Iran at that time. He was one of the most senior judges in Iran.

The other, Moghiseh, was sanctioned by the US in 2019, with the treasury department accusing him of having “overseen countless unfair trials, during which charges went unsubstantiated and evidence was disregarded”.

At that time, he was a judge in the Tehran Revolutionary Court. He was reportedly named to the supreme court in 2020.

Moghiseh was also among seven Iranian judges sanctioned by Canada in 2023 for what the country described as “their role in gross and systematic human rights violations”.

Nigerians may soon experience an increase in the cost of telecom services, with the price of 1GB of data potentially rising to N560 under a proposed tariff adjustment.

The Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, during a recent appearance on national TV, revealed that while telecom operators were pushing for a 100 per cent hike in tariffs, the government was only considering an increment of between 30 and 60 per cent.

If a 60 per cent increase is approved, the average cost of phone calls will rise from N11 to N17.6 per minute, SMS charges will increase from N4 to N6.4, and the cost of 1GB of data will jump from N350 to N560.

The clamour for an increase follows the escalating operating costs due to inflation, naira devaluation, and an unstable economic environment.

MTN Nigeria revealed that telecommunications companies were seeking a 100 per cent tariff increase, but it remains uncertain whether the Nigerian Communications Commission—the telecom regulator, will approve the proposal.

The disclosure was made by the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, who said the proposed tariff hike was necessary for the sustainability of the industry which has been facing significant financial pressures due to rising operational costs.

However, Tijani insisted that a 100 per cent increase would be detrimental to citizens who rely heavily on telecom services.

The minister explained that the government was focused on striking a balance between protecting Nigerians and ensuring that telecommunications companies could continue to invest significantly in the sector.