Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA have arrested a 22-year-old woman, Amaka Ogonachukwu for allegedly attempting to smuggle wraps of cocaine to her boyfriend, Monday Imagbebenikaro, who was in the custody of the agency in Edo State.
Ogonachukwu allegedly concealed the drug in cooked white rice for her boyfriend.
In a statement on Sunday, December 26, 2021, the NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said the suspect’s boyfriend, Imagbebenikaro, was arrested along the Airport Road, Benin City, in the Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State, for dealing in crack cocaine, cannabis sativa, and danabel (anabolic steroids).
Babafemi also noted that a total of 8,381,600 capsules and tablets of tramadol and 56,782 bottles of codeine were seized during raids on the Satellite Town and Alaba Rago areas of Lagos State.
The spokesperson said during a raid on Thursday, December 23, around the Satellite Town area, a drug kingpin, Ezekiel Ibe, was arrested and over 7,991,600 milligrams, 225mg and 100mg of tramadol tablets, and 390,000 capsules weighing 5,468.894 kilogrammes were recovered from his warehouse.
The NDLEA spokesman added “In another raid on Monday, 20th December, following tasking surveillance in a notorious neighbourhood at Alaba Rago in the Alaba area of Lagos, one Surajo Mohammed was arrested with 941.14kg cannabis while 56,782 bottles of codeine were seized from the store of another drug lord still at large.
“In a related development, an outbound passenger to Italy on a Turkish Airline, Ovire Cyril, was arrested with 114 wraps of heroin with a gross weight of 1.80kg during a routine search at Gate “C” Departure Hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
“The drugs were concealed inside the pockets of four jean trousers, packed in a black suitcase.
“The suspect who confessed that he was pushed into the crime by hardship after he lost his Job, claimed he was promised Five Thousand Euros (€5,000.00) if he successfully delivers the consignment in Italy.
“The same day during the outward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines passengers’ luggage at the same gate, a male passenger, Osakue Evbuomwan, travelling to Milan, Italy was arrested with 1.55kg of Tramadol concealed in a “Ghana must go” bag.”
Commending the commanders, officers and men of the Lagos, Edo and MMIA commands of the Agency for not letting down their guard during the festive season, Mohamed Buba Marwa, Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA assured them and their counterparts in other commands that his leadership would always reward exemplary performance while charging them to remain focussed and always aspire to surpass previous feats.
