Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports.
Ms. Ebhodaghei Gloria Osenemeshen, a Dubai, UAE-bound passenger, was intercepted on Monday, July 25th, during the outward clearance of passengers on Rwanda Air via Kigali to Dubai. Tramadol 225mg sachets were discovered hidden inside garri, a cassava product packed with other foodstuffs, in her luggage.
She claimed, however, that the bag was given to her by someone with whom she spent the night before arriving at the airport to assist in the delivery of another person in Dubai. The following day, Tuesday, July 26th, 50 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing a total of 27.1kg were discovered hidden inside a large quantity of crayfish bound for London, UK as part of a consolidated cargo at the SAHCO export shed.
On the same day, Emebradu Previous Rachael, a Dubai-bound female passenger, was apprehended with 1.8kg cannabis packed inside bitter leaf in her luggage while attempting to board a Rwanda Air flight to Dubai via Kigali.
The mother of one, who is from Oghara in Delta State’s Ethiope West Local Government Area, said she used to sell men’s wear before deciding to travel to Dubai to expand her clothing business.
She claimed that her ex-boyfriend, who lives in Dubai, asked her to bring the bag containing the illegal substance as well as food.
Similarly, on Saturday, July 30th, operatives at the airport’s NAHCO import shed evacuated cartons of khat leaf weighing a total of 51.50kg.
The shipment had arrived from Sierra Leone on a Royal Air Maroc flight.
In the last week, anti-narcotic officers at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, thwarted attempts by drug traffickers to export various psychoactive substances to London, UK and Dubai, UAE via the Lagos airport. At least five people have been arrested in connection with the plots.
According to Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director, Media & Advocacy, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, intercepted two million seven hundred and fifty (2,750,000) tablets of Tramadol 225mg weighing 1,650 kilograms worth one billion three hundred and seventy five million naira (N1, 375, 000,000) at the Apapa port in Lagos.
Following credible intelligence, a consignment of 55 cartons of Tramadol Tapentadol and Carisoprodol was seized on Saturday 30th July during examination of container number SUDU 7538656.
Four notorious drug dealers were arrested in Konkol and Belel, two villages on the Nigeria-Cameroon border, for exporting and retailing Tramadol and importing Diazepam into the country. Kabiru Ahmadu, Eric Emil, Abdulmumini Bapetel, and Alphonsus Yusuf are among the suspects.
They recovered 59.018kg of Tramadol, Diazepam, Exol-5, Cannabis Sativa, and two jerry cans of formalin substance (Suck & Die).
On Friday, July 29th, no less than 4,010 ampoules of pentazocine injection were seized in Kebbi when a commercial vehicle with the registration number Sokoto RBA 220 XA was stopped along the Yawuri-Kebbi road and two suspects, Muktar Yunusa, 26, and Lukman Aliyu, 30, were arrested.
Similarly, on Tuesday, July 26th, a raid in the Oko-Olowo area of Ilorin resulted in the arrest of Onaolapo Zakariyau, 50, with 79kg cannabis sativa.
In addition, 90 blocks of cannabis (48.2kg) and 700grams of methamphetamine were intercepted at the Jabi motor park in Abuja, with at least one suspect arrested in connection with the drug exhibits. In Kano, 51 suspects were apprehended on Friday, July 29th, during a raid at Sky restaurant in the Nasarawa area of the state. The suspects were apprehended with various amounts of cannabis and codeine-based cough syrup.
In response to the arrests and seizures, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), Chairman/CEO of NDLEA, commended the officers and men of Apapa seaport, MMIA, Adamawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Kano, and FCT Commands for their vigilance and commitment. He urged them and their colleagues throughout the country not to relent in their pursuit of the Agency’s goal of ridding Nigeria of illicit substances.
