The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has seized cocaine worth N4.4 billion at Lagos airport just as it is grilling 30 suspects in connection with the seizure. The agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a release.
Babafemi also said the agency ntercepted UK, UAE, Australia-bound cocaine, cannabis, tramadol concealed in body cream containers and artwork.
He said the bid by members of an international drug syndicate that operates between Brazil, Ethiopia and Nigeria to smuggle into Lagos a total of 845 wraps of cocaine weighing 18.72 kilogrammes has been thwarted and the consignments recovered by operatives of the agency at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (Mia), Ikeja.
“The drug consignments worth Four Billion Four Hundred and Ninety-Two Million Eight Hundred Thousand Naira (N4,492,800,000) in street value were recovered from two lavatories of an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft during the post landing clearing of the cabin of flight ET900 from Addis Ababa to Lagos on Tuesday 29th October, 2024.
“The illicit drug consignments were wrapped in nine polythene bags and hidden in the waste collectors in the two rear lavatories of the aircraft, from where they were recovered after the MMIA Strategic Command of NDLEA was alerted about the strange objects. No fewer than 30 suspects have so far been grilled in connection with the seizure.
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“Investigations revealed that the seized drugs were conveyed from Brazil to Ethiopia through ingestion and excreted in Addis Ababa by a set of couriers while some other traffickers picked them up and attempted to smuggle them into Nigeria through the Lagos airport before their attempt was frustrated with the cooperation of the airline’s authorities and other airport stakeholders,” he stated.
Babafemi also said attempts by some drug trafficking syndicates to export 2.928kg cocaine, cannabis and tramadol 225mg concealed in body cream containers, and pieces of artwork to Australia, United Arab Emirate and United Kingdom through some courier companies in Lagos were also blocked by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, on Monday 28th October.
“At the Apapa Seaport in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday 29th October intercepted 754, 000 pills of tapentadol and acetaminophen 225mg worth Five Hundred and Twenty-Five Million Naira (N525, 000,000) in a targeted and watch-listed container from India during a joint examination with men of Customs Service and other security agencies.
“In the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, a suspect Mujahid Hamisu, 24, was arrested with 147,000 pills of tramadol concealed in black nylon bags containing plumbing materials along Kwali-Gwagwalada Abuja expressway on his way from Onitsha, Anambra state on Saturday 2nd November 2024, while another suspect ?, Seun Abimbola, 47, was nabbed by NDLEA operatives same day with 512 grams of methamphetamine during a raid operation at Giri junction area of the FCT,” he stated.
Babafemi also disclosed that in Kogi State, NDLEA officers on patrol along Kabba- Obajana highway arrested Mercy Ameh, 28, in a commercial bus travelling from Lagos to Abuja while a search of her luggage led to the recovery of fake Naira notes worth Four Million, Three Hundred and Fifty Three Thousand ,Two Hundred Naira (₦ 4,353,200), even as another suspect, Shaibu Dahiru, 27, was nabbed in a vehicle coming from Lagos to Katsina along Lokoja- Okene- Abuja road on Thursday 30th October with 68 blocks of cannabis weighing 27.400kg.
