The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested three sexagenarian grandfathers and a Nigerien, allegedly in connection with hard drugs seized in Lagos, Kwara, Plateau and Sokoto states in the past week.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi, said the drugs comprised over 52.252 kilograms of Cocaine, Methamphetamine, and Skunk as well as 32, 590 pills of opioids.
Babafemi, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, said two courier companies were also implicated in the illicit business.
The Director named one Onyebi Benjamin Chimaobi as a suspect in the drugs bust.
He said Chimaobi frequently travelled to Cameroun, Ethiopia and Uganda and had been on the NDLEA’s watchlist.
Chimaobi, he added, was arrested on February 18 at Victory Estate, Iba, Ojo area of Lagos allegedly in connection with the seizure of 19.70kgs of cocaine abandoned on an Ethiopian Airlines flight that arrived at the Lagos airport on February 9.
He alleged that Chimaobi travelled to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, to pick up the consignment, which he claimed was handed over to him in a black backpack bag on the plane in Addis Ababa.
According to him, the suspect failed to disembark with the consignment on arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
“While the Agency continues to investigate the flight crew members, relevant intelligence and investigative tools were deployed to identify the passenger who brought the consignment to Nigeria as a result of which Chimaobi was eventually unravelled and traced to Victory Estate, Iba where he was arrested,” Babafemi said.
The spokesman also alleged that last Thursday, NDLEA operatives intercepted an intending passenger, Obazee Timothy Eguagie, with various quantities of opioids.
Eguagie was said to be on a Turkish Airline flight to Torino via Milan, Italy at the Departure Hall of the Lagos airport.
Babafemi said the illicit consignment comprised 22, 840 tablets of Tramadol 225mg weighing 10.60 kg; 1000 tablets of Tramadol 200mg with a gross weight of 600 grams; 2, 300 capsules of Tramadol 100mg, weighing 800 grams and 60 tablets of Rohypnol 1mg, weighing 19 grams.
They were concealed in cloth and wrapped with black tapes, he said.
Babafemi added that other arrests were also made.
The statement reads, “The following day, Friday 24th February, NDLEA operatives attached to the NAHCO import shed of the airport intercepted eight cartons of shoes coming from Los Angeles, United States of America.
“A diligent examination of the cargo, however, showed that the shoes were used to conceal 37 parcels of a Loud variant of Cannabis with a gross weight of 20.10 kilograms.
“A 63-year-old grandfather, Balogun Akinlabi Abideen hired as ä freight agent to clear the illicit consignment has already been arrested.
“Two other sexagenarians arrested in connection with drug trafficking included Butven Siman, 62, who was nabbed with 5.5kgs skunk on Friday 17th February at Timbol Village, Langtang South LGA, Plateau State, as well as 65-year-old Musa Shuaib who was arrested with a kilogram of cannabis on Thursday 23rd February in Adewole area of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
“At two major courier companies in Lagos, a total of 4.292 kilograms of psychoactive drugs including Methamphetamine, Tramadol, Lexaton, and Swindon concealed in walls of cartons, picture frames, bathing soap packs and bedsheets were recovered from parcels going to United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia by officers of the NDLEA Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI attached to the logistics firms.”
The drug busts also extended to Sokoto, where a foreign national was arrested.
The statement added: “In Sokoto State, NDLEA operatives at the Illela land border on Tuesday, 21st Feb intercepted a Nigerien, Bashar Abdu of Kwanni, Niger Republic with 1.460kgs of skunk wrapped around his private part.
“In Kaduna, a suspect, Mohammed Garba (a.k.a Alfazazi), was arrested with 6,390 tablets of Tramadol 225mg, weighing 3.4kgs on Thursday 23rd along Abuja-Kaduna Express Road.”
The statement commended the officers and men of MMIA, DOGI, Plateau, Sokoto, Kaduna and Kwara Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures.
“Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) noted that their efforts and those of their compatriots across the country have in no small measure reduced access to and availability of illicit substances in Nigerian communities.
“He charged them to remain vigilant at all times,” Babafemi said.
