The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, on Sunday, said its operatives of different special units have intercepted large consignments of cocaine and Colorado, a strong strain of cannabis, concealed in containerized household items and vehicles imported from Durban, South Africa, and Canada at the Tincan Seaport in Lagos.
NDLEA said the development followed coordinated intelligence and months of tracking of the containers by its three special units, adding that the illicit drugs, along with arms, ammunition and sundry military effects were seized during joint examination of the three containers by the Agency’s officers and their counterparts from the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies between Thursday 18th and Friday 19th January 2024.
This was made known in a statement issued on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy.
He said some of the agency’s sniffer dogs were also deployed to help identify locations and bags used in concealing the illicit items.
According to him, some of the items recovered from the containers include 1, 274 parcels of cocaine and Colorado with a total weight of 884.09 kilograms; four pistols; 197 rounds of 9mm ammunition, 49 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, 275 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition, 14 rounds of 9mm ammunition and sundry military personnel effects as well as some chemicals in kegs.
Babafemi stated that, with the exception of 32.5kg shipment of Colorado that came in used vehicles from Canada, the rest of the items were found in two of three containers that arrived the Tincan port from Durban, South Africa onboard a vessel marked MSC RESILIENT III and discharged on New Year’s eve, 31st December 2023, adding that a suspect linked to one of the containers, UACU 5348336, bearing the 32.5kg Colorado, 41-year-old Akara Chibugo, has already been tracked and arrested by NDLEA operatives.
“Two vigilant freight agents and a traveler escaped being roped into two drug trafficking operations by desperate traffickers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos. The two agents were contacted to send a consignment of 1kg cannabis concealed in tins of Milo beverage to Turkey but chose to submit the shipment to NDLEA checks before processing the cargo. The psychoactive substance was later discovered to be hidden inside the shipment,” he said.
Announcing further interceptions and seizures made by the NDLEA, Babafemi said: “In the same vein, NDLEA operatives on Friday 19th January arrested one Okosun Paul Punitt, the consignee of a consignment of tramadol concealed in a bottle of dietary supplements, which a staff of Pathfinder International Ltd, Ajuzieogu Mac-Elvis Ugochukwu attempted sending through an intending passenger on Ibom Air to Accra, Ghana at the Lagos airport on Tuesday 16th January.
“A video of the face-off between the passenger and Ajuzieogu later went viral after the vigilant passenger suspected the consignment contained illicit substances. Both Ajuzieogu and the exhibit were later transferred to NDLEA on Thursday 18th January by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN for investigation. Preliminary findings by NDLEA showed the parcel contained 50 pills of tramadol 225mg concealed in a bottle of dietary supplements. A follow up operation by the Agency led to the arrest of Okosun upon his return from Ghana on Friday. He has in his statement confirmed ownership of the drug.”
He continued, “In Kano, no fewer than five million six hundred and fifty three thousand (5, 653,000) pills of tramadol 250mg and exol-5 were seized from three suspects. While Nura Abdullahi, 38, and Tahir Muhammad Mukhtar, 42, were arrested at Bacharawa area of Kano with 5, 404,000 pills of tramadol 250mg on Sunday 14th January, Yusuf Umar, 50, was nabbed at Gadar Tamburawa area of the state the previous day Saturday 13th January with 249,000 tablets of exol-5 by NDLEA operatives.
“In Lagos, two suspects: Ali Abubakar and Murtala Sani were arrested at Ojodu Berger area on Tuesday 16th January with 110kg of cannabis sativa while 69kg of same substance was recovered from the hideout of a fleeing suspect in Akerele, Surulere same day. Not less than 2, 800 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup were recovered by NDLEA officers on Saturday 20th January during a raid operation at Aleita FCT, Abuja. The suspected owner of the consignment, Jideofor Sochima is still at large.
“While a total of 100, 510 pills of opioids were seized from a suspect, Ike Emmanuel, 35, on Thursday 18th January at Dan-Anacha village, Taraba state, NDLEA operatives in Abia state arrested 60-year-old Joseph Isiguzoro, as well as Emmanuel Eugene and Malachi Ndu in parts of Abia state with 34,200 pills of opioids. Isiguzoro was equally found with monetary exhibit totalling Two Million Eight Hundred and Eighty Five Thousand and Forty Five Naira (N2,885,045) only.”
Reacting to the development, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) commended the officers and men of Tincan, MMIA, Abia, Taraba, Lagos, Kano and FCT Commands as well as the special units of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week.
Marwa urged them and their compatriots across all formations of the Agency to remain focused and resolute in pursuit of the corporate goal of winning the war against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking in Nigeria.
He further charged them to maintain the flame of collaboration with other law enforcement agencies and stakeholders in their areas of responsibility.
