BY BRIGHT JACOB
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have intercepted a large consignment of methamphetamine concealed in powdered custard containers as part of a consolidated cargo going to London, United Kingdom at the SAHCO export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos.
The illicit drug consignment weighing 30.10 kilograms has a street value of N567 million.
According to a statement signed on Sunday by the NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the drug was detected and seized by operatives at the airport on Tuesday, May 16.
“This was swiftly followed by a series of follow-up operations that led to the arrest of a freight agent, Nwobodo Chidiebere; a female suspect, Chioma Lucy Akuta and ultimately the drug lord behind the shipment, Charles Chinedu Ezeh, who was arrested at Sotel Suites, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos on Thursday, May 18,” according to Babafemi.
He said Ezeh claimed he’s a businessman and deals in articles in Onitsha, Anambra State but investigations revealed he lived with his wife and children in London until December 10, 2022 when he fled to Nigeria after his involvement in a drug-related offence in the UK.
He said though he claimed to have been living in hotels since his return to Nigeria last December, operatives were however able to locate his mansion at No. 1 Hawawu Abikan Street, Lekki, on Friday, May 19, where a search was conducted and his travel and property documents among others were recovered.
Meanwhile, Babafemi also said that NDLEA operatives in Adamawa on Monday, May 15, arrested a 32-year-old notorious drug dealer, Ikechukwu Uzoma, in the Mubi area of the state with 1kg of skunk.
He said Ikechukwu had twice been arrested in the past, and convicted for the same offence. “He was in 2017 sentenced to six months imprisonment and in 2019 he was again sentenced to two years in jail. In the same vein, a trans-border trafficker, Faisal Mohammed, 27, was on Wednesday, May 17, arrested in Mubi following the interception of a truck from Onitsha, Anambra State, where a total of 2,376 sachets of tramadol comprising 23,760 pills were found concealed in three blue rubber Jerry cans which were hidden underneath the body part of the trailer. The suspect admitted the opioid was to be taken to Cameroon.”
In Oyo state, two suspects: Osas Susan, 35, and Thomas Biodun, 23, were arrested at Igbon, Gambari in Ogbomoso North LGA with 2.13kg cannabis while Idris Muhammed, 55, was nabbed with 4,500 pills of tramadol when a commercial bus conveying him and other passengers was stopped and searched along Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
Similarly, Bulus Mikah, 63, was arrested at Kafanchan, Kaduna State with over 5kg opioids including tramadol, diazepam, Rohypnol and excel-5, just as a total of 965kg cannabis was seized from Shehu Muhammadu Dandare, 25, at Maraban Jos, in Igabi local government area of the state.
While 552kg cannabis was recovered from a warehouse in a bush when operatives stormed and destroyed 1.5 hectares of cannabis farm in Uhodoua forest, Esan South East LGA, Edo state, 10 suspects were arrested with a total of 5.587kg cannabis sativa, 144.4grams of methamphetamine and 48, 260 capsules of tramadol in different parts of Onitsha, Anambra state on Friday, May 19.
In Kwara, two suspects: Mohammed Isa, 47 and Mohammed Haman, 36, were arrested on Friday, May 19 along Ilorin/Lagos road in a commercial bus on their way to Maiduguri, Borno state with 6kg cannabis, 50grams of methamphetamine and 20 pieces of military camouflage caps and uniforms. The same day, operatives in Jigawa state nabbed one Ibrahim Abdullahi, 53, with 120kg of cannabis at Sara town in Gwaram LGA.
Not less than 628 bottles of new psychoactive substances, skuchies when operatives raided a drug joint at Idanre where four suspects were arrested.
They include: Olamide Olusola, 26; Abiodun Tijani, 21; Fatope Temidayo, 29; Agba Obi, 30 and Olafisoye Festus, 26. In the same vein, a suspect, Kayode Hakeem, 22, was arrested at Hawan Dawaki, Kano with 293 blocks of cannabis weighing 211.6kg.
