Crime
NDLEA intercepts cocaine consignments at Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt airports, arrests 7 traffickers
NDLEA intercepts cocaine consignments at Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt airports, arrests 7 traffickers
By: Michael Mike
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted at the nation’s three major airports of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt large consignments of cocaine which Brazil based drug cartels tried smuggling into the country.
According to the spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi arrested were seven traffickers in the smashes.
A statement on Sunday by the spokesman said at the Port Harcourt International Airport, five suspects were arrested on Saturday 9th April. Three of them were arrested during the inward screening of passengers on board Qatar Airline flight QR1433 from Doha to Port Harcourt.
He said the three suspects departed Sao Paulo, Brazil on board same Qatar flight, en-route Doha to Abuja and Port Harcourt with a total of 24.96 kilogrammes of cocaine.
Babafemi sad the first is 51-year-old Udogwu Johnson who was arrested with 5.48 kilogrammes of cocaine concealed in lotion plastic bottles sealed with candle wax. He claimed he agreed to traffic the drug for a fee of N1 million.
He said also arrested is Ezekwueme Valentine, 32, who was caught with 10.82 kilogrammes cocaine packed in 84 sachets concealed in seven duvets, while the third trafficker, Chiezie Ikechukwu Arinze, 35, was arrested with 8.66 kilogrammes cocaine hidden in 115 golden and silver colour 30ml breakable bottles factory packaged with lotion on top.
The fourth suspect, Uchechukwu Onwugbufor, 42, according to him, was arrested at the airport car park while waiting to receive one of the traffickers, Udogwu James and his consignment. He claimed he was contacted by someone in Brazil to receive Udogwu and lead him to Lagos for a fee of N100,000. Uchechukwu Onwugbufor was at the Airport with his neigbour, Nwogu Ezimadu, who is equally being investigated to determine if he is complicit in the crime or not.
He said at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, a Psychology graduate of Imo State University, Owerri, Sebastine Kelvin, 30, was arrested with 74 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.454 kilogrammes on arrival aboard Ethiopian Airline flight enroute Doula- Addis Ababa-Abuja last Wednesday.
He said the father of one who claims he is a motor spare parts dealer, said he lived in Cameroon for six years before going into the drug business to raise money to boost his trade. He added that he was introduced to the man who gave him the drugs at Addis Ababa by another person serving jail term for drug offence at the Doula Newbell Prison.
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Babafemi said in Lagos, another Brazil based passenger, Uba Samuel was arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, by NDLEA operatives last Friday on arrival aboard Ethiopian Airline flight from Sao Paulo via Addis Ababa to Lagos with sachets of cocaine weighing 633 grammes concealed in his footwear and toothpaste tube.
The suspect who claims to be a shoemaker and barber, while accepting ownership of the drug, said he used his shoe making knowledge to conceal the drug in his pair of sandals. Uba who is a regular traveller confessed he bought the drug to sell at a market in Abia.
In other clampdown, more illicit substances were recovered in raid operations in other parts of the country. In Gadaka village of Fika local government area, Yobe state, operatives arrested one Hassan Usman with a total of 22,110 tablets of Tramadol, D5 and Exol 5, while one Ali Mohammed was nabbed in a commercial vehicle coming from Kano to Maiduguri with 40 blocks of cannabis weighing 33 kilogrammes. Also arrested on the Kano-Maiduguri route was a driver Ibrahim Khalil Idris with 60 packets of Tramadol, all on Tuesday 12th April.
In Kogi state, 750 blocks of cannabis weighing 750 kilogrammes were seized from two suspects: Hassan Adamu, 25, and Abdulmalik Abdullahi, 24, along Okene-Abuja highway. The drug exhibits were concealed inside fabricated panels of a Ford bus.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) has commended the officers and men of the PHIA, NAIA, MMIA, Yobe, and Kogi Commands of the agency for disrupting desperate attempts by drug cartels to traffic dangerous drugs into Nigeria and across the country. He said the huge seizures at the airports will send a strong message to drug barons that Nigeria will no longer be their safe destination or transit route.
NDLEA intercepts cocaine consignments at Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt airports, arrests 7 traffickers
Man arrested with 15 bags of cannabis in Abuja
By: Zagazola Makama
A man has been arrested in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with 15 bags of dried leaves suspected to be cannabis sativa concealed in his vehicle.
The suspect, identified as Paul Onogwu of Lambatta, Niger State, was apprehended after attempting to evade a stop-and-search operation around the NNPC junction in Kubwa.
Witnesses said Onogwu drove through the security barricade in an attempt to escape but was later pursued and arrested in Madalla, Niger State.
A search of his Toyota Camry vehicle, with registration number KRD 391 JF, led to the discovery of the suspected cannabis neatly packed in 15 bags.
Authorities have taken the suspect into custody while efforts are underway to trace the ownership of the vehicle as well as the source and intended destination of the illegal substance.
Man arrested with 15 bags of cannabis in Abuja
Teenager beheaded on farm in Benue community
By: Zagazola Makama
Residents of Ohirigwe Village in Oju Local Government Area of Benue State have been thrown into mourning following the gruesome killing of a 15-year-old boy, identified as Sunday Ela, whose beheaded body was discovered on a farm.
According to community sources, the incident occurred on Oct. 15 when one John Adima, a native of the area but resident in Ondo State, asked the deceased to accompany him to his farm. Adima, however, later returned home without the boy and subsequently fled the village to an unknown destination.
Villagers, suspecting foul play, organized a search party which led to the discovery of the teenager’s decapitated body on the farm.
The tragic incident has sparked outrage in the community as residents intensify efforts to locate the fleeing suspect.
Authorities have commenced investigations to uncover the motive behind the killing and bring the perpetrator to justice.
Teenager beheaded on farm in Benue community
US, UK, DRC-Bound Illicit Drug Consignments Intercepted in Frozen Snails, Electrical Bulbs
By: Michael Mike
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted consignments of illicit drugs concealed in frozen snails, electrical bulbs and female clothes heading to the United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK) and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) and a courier company in Lagos.
The spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said at least, two suspects linked to attempts to export the illicit substances have already been taken into custody.
He disclosed that one of them, a cargo agent Boladale Riliwan was arrested on 7th October 2025 following the discovery of 15 parcels of skunk, a strain of cannabis, concealed in 10 pieces of giant rechargeable electrical bulbs he presented in a carton for airfreight to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at the export shed of the Lagos airport.
Another suspect in custody is 48-year-old Olawale Hakeemot who is a UK-based Public Health Assistant was arrested on Sunday 12th October at the departure hall of terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja following the discovery of frozen snails used to conceal 2,300 pills of tramadol 225mg in her luggage while heading to Manchester, United Kingdom, on a Qatar Airways flight.
Babafemi said attempt by another syndicate to export 810 pills of bromazepam hidden in female clothes going to the United States was also thwarted by NDLEA officers at a courier company in Lagos last Thursday.
In Adamawa, a suspect Bello Buba was intercepted at an NDLEA check point in Namtari, Yola South local government area with 38,270 pills of tramadol concealed in the spare tyre, boot, and door compartments of his Honda Civic car he drove all the way from Benin Republic to smuggle the consignment into Nigeria on Sunday 12th October.
Babafemi said not less than 53,250 kilogrammes of skunk were destroyed on 21.3 hectares of cannabis farm in Ilawe Ekiti, Ekiti state, with 70 bags of the same psychoactive substance weighing 1,140 kilogrammes recovered by NDLEA operatives during an operation that lasted between Sunday 12th and Monday 13th October. He disclosed that suspects arrested include: Matthew Emmanuel, 26; James Moses, 27; and Israel Samuel, 20. The arrest followed the destruction of 17,400 kilogrammes skunk on 6.96 hectares of plantation by NDLEA operatives at Aponmu forest reserve, Akure, Ondo state on Sunday 12th October.
In Oyo state, Aliyu Muhammed, 50; Babarinde Segun,32; Ogunbiyi Sanjo, 30; and Ajani Oluro,30, were nabbed with 596 kilogrammes skunk at Apata-Ako, Igboora, while Jacob Afolabi, 30, and Salako Oluwatobi, 25, were arrested with 273 kilogrammes of same substance at Odo-Oyan, Igangan, lastThursday.
While Joseph Andrew was arrested in possession of 88 kilogrammes skunk last Wednesday by NDLEA operatives at Ona – Imeko, Ogun state, another suspect Festus Udoh, 42, was nabbed with 13,000 pills of opioids along Onitsha- Owerri road, Imo state. In same vein, a total of 74.5 kilogrammes skunk was recovered from the store of a suspect Joseph Chukwujamaa at Umuogbo – Agu village, Enugu state last Saturday.
Babafemi said in Lagos, no fewer than 11 bags of skunk weighing 117 kilogrammes were recovered from the base of a suspect Ramoni Olukowi in Mushin area on Saturday while a total of 80,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were intercepted in a container earlier watch-listed by NDLEA coming from India during a joint examination of the shipment with men of Customs Service and other security agencies at the Apapa port last Tuesday.
He said in like manner, commands and formations of the agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd) while commending the officers and men of MMIA, Apapa, Lagos, Ekiti, Adamawa, Oyo, Enugu, Ogun, Ondo, and Imo commands for the arrests, and seizures, urged them and their colleagues across the country not to relent in their ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the agency.
US, UK, DRC-Bound Illicit Drug Consignments Intercepted in Frozen Snails, Electrical Bulbs
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