By Ramotallahi Balogun
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) apprehended Udechukwu Ekene Theophilus, a Brazil returnee, at the Murtala Muhammad Airport (MMiA) in Ikeja, Lagos.
The arrest took place during routine passenger checks on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil, via Addis Ababa.
Refusing body verification, Ekene feigned sickness, raising health concerns, and attempting to evade arrest. Eventually complying with an excretion observation, he revealed 60 wraps of cocaine, weighing 1.279 kilogrammes, excreted in five instances.
Ekene confessed to absorbing cocaine in Brazil, intending to deliver the entire consignment in Addis Ababa but managing to deliver only 15 wraps to an accomplice before his flight to Nigeria.
On the same day, NDLEA operatives at Lagos airport disclosed the seizure of twelve boxes of tramadol (22mg), totaling 599,900 pills and weighing 384.40kg, found in a cargo at the SAHCO import shed.
This followed a collaborative inspection with other agencies, highlighting the trafficking of tramadol on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flights from Karachi, Pakistan, between July 27th and August 1st, 2023.
In other operations, NDLEA operatives uncovered 822 kilograms of cannabis sativa at a fuel station in Ashipa community along Badagry road, Seme Special Area Command.
Offender Sani Audu, 35, was arrested in Maigatari town, Jigawa state, with 111.3kg of the same drug on January 23rd.
Additional arrests include two offenders in Yobe state, Mohammed Usman and Adamu Ma’azu, caught with 49 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 50kg at Damaturu motor park.
In Kogi state, Paul Obor, 38, and Dennis Fuokorighe, 48, were apprehended with 318 contracts of various cannabis sativa weighing 190.8kg.
The list of arrests extends to Kano, where suspects Shamwilu Idris, 29, and Abubakar Haruna Salisu, 24, were caught with large quantities of cannabis.
A total of 1,306 blocks of cannabis weighing 886kg were seized by the police in the Kwanar Dangora area.
In Gombe, NDLEA operatives discovered 87 contract blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 73kg, along with tramadol and diazepam pills from suspect Musa Galadima. Plateau state saw the arrest of Aminu Ubanta, 35, with 5.355kg of cannabis.
The former beauty queen Ms. Aderinoye Queen Christmas, also known as Ms. Oluwadamilola Aderinoye, is now wanted by the agency after escaping inspection in Lekki, Lagos, on January 24th.
She faces charges of dealing with illicit drugs, with 606 grams of Canadian loud and an electronic weighing scale found in her residence.
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA commends officers and men across various commands for their extraordinary work, especially in drug supply reduction efforts, expressing gratitude for the successful WADA advocacy seminar
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