NDLEA arrests auto parts dealer, bizwoman over UK-bound cocaine

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested an Ibadan-based businesswoman, Adewunmi Dorcas and an auto parts dealer, Arinze Ora, over attempts to export consignments of opioids and cocaine to London, United Kingdom and Congo Brazzaville, respectively.

The NDLEA officers at the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, had on Friday, September 6, 2024, intercepted a cargo going to the UK.

According to a statement on Sunday by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, a thorough search of the consignment revealed that 924 bottles of codeine-based syrup weighing 135.70kg and 5,250 tablets of Rohypnol were hidden in cartons of foodstuffs.

“The freight agent, Owojori Olanrewaju Sunday, who presented the cargo for export, was promptly arrested. Further investigation led to the arrest of another suspect, Adewunmi Akeem Temitope, who claimed that his mother, 58-year-old Mrs. Adewunmi Adebola Dorcas sent the consignment to him from Ibadan to deliver to the agent. A follow-up operation on Saturday, September 7, led to the arrest of Mrs Adewunmi in Ibadan, where she deals in foodstuffs and cargo export.

“In his statement, the agent, Owojori, confessed that he had been working for Mrs Adewunmi to export cargoes to the UK, adding that he was paid N2,411,000.00 for the job, while he was paid N2.1million for a similar consignment handled for the businesswoman earlier,” the statement added.

Babafemi also said the NDLEA operatives at the same export shed of the Lagos airport on September 11 intercepted some cartons of auto spare parts and Checker powder custard going to Congo Brazzaville on Ethiopian Airlines.

He added that a diligent search of the cargo led to the discovery of 300 grams of cocaine concealed in the containers of Checker powder custard packed together with some auto parts.

“A follow-up operation led to the arrest of the sender of the consignment, Arinze Ora, who deals in auto parts at Shop 12, Block 7 Aspanda Trade Fair Auto Parts Wing, Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos,” Babafemi said.

Additionally, Babafemi said operatives arrested two brothers, Ikechukwu Ikeabba and Ugochukwu Ikeabba, who were sponsors of drug traffickers who specialised in exporting drugs by ingestion to Vietnam on September 10.

“Their arrest followed a diligent investigation of an earlier arrest of an Onitsha, Anambra State based-businessman, Ibeanusi Solomon Nosike, who excreted 68 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.282 kilograms after 12 days of excretion observation after he was arrested at the local wing of the Lagos airport by the NDLEA operatives.

“The 36-year-old Ibeanusi was arrested in the early hours of Thursday, August 8, 2024, at the old domestic terminal of the Lagos airport while attempting to board the first flight out of Lagos to Abuja where he was scheduled to join a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at about 10 am, the same day,” Babafemi said.

He also said the brothers were linked to another Vietnam-bound businessman, 54-year-old Paul Mbadugha, who was arrested by the NDLEA operatives at the Abuja airport on  August 12, 2024, during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam via Doha after he tested positive to ingestion of cocaine.

He recalled that four days under observation, Mbadugha excreted a total of 88 wraps of the illicit drug with a gross weight of 1.710 kilograms.

“At the time of the arrest of the two kingpins, the Ikeabba brothers,  they were caught with 87 wraps of cocaine dummies used in training intending swallowers,” Babafemi added.

In Gombe State, Babafemi said the NDLEA operatives acting on credible intelligence on September 14 arrested three suspects: Auwal Abdullahi, Isah Rabiu and Abubakar Da’u along Bauchi-Gombe Road while travelling in a DAF truck marked GME 552 ZU.

He noted that a search of the vehicle led to the seizure of 2,490,000 pills of Tramadol concealed with bags of salt.

In another operation in Kaduna State, Babafemi said a suspect, Idris Adamu, was arrested with 41.5 kilograms of cannabis sativa at Kachia town on September 10,  while two suspects: Godiya  Jikuk, and Yusuf Umaru, were nabbed at Isinbode-Ekiti, Ekiti State with a total of 73.6kg cannabis on Wednesday, September 11.

“In Bauchi State, no fewer than 208,920 pills of Tramadol and Diazepam were seized from a suspect, Chinedu Asadu, 35, on Thursday, September 13, while 104kg of cannabis was recovered from two suspects, Abba Abdullahi and Mustapha Yahaya, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Tuesday, September 10, by operatives in Lagos State.

No fewer than 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were discovered by the NDLEA operatives in two containers shipped from India during a joint examination of the containers with men of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies at the Tincan port in Lagos on Tuesday, September 10. The containers were part of those targeted by the NDLEA for 100 per cent examination,” the statement concluded.