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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has thwarted attempts by drug syndicates to export large consignments of cocaine, methamphetamine and opioids through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja to the United Kingdom, Italy, Turkey and Qatar.
A total of 13 parcels of cocaine weighing 4.40kg cocaine going to the United Kingdom via Frankfurt on a Lufthansa Airlines flight were intercepted by NDLEA officers at the export shed of the Lagos airport on November 5, 2024, while a businessman linked to the consignment, Ekeocha Anayo Nelson, was tracked and arrested on November 8, 2024.
NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said in a statement that the bid by another businessman, Adegbite Solomon (aka Obama), to export 7,800 pills of tramadol, 180 tablets of Rohypnol, and 60 bottles of codeine to Italy was also foiled at the departure hall of the Lagos airport on Monday, November 11, when NDLEA operatives arrested him after recovering the opioids concealed in food and other items while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Italy.
He claimed to have travelled to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea and earned a living as a street beggar before delving into the logistics business.
Also related is the arrest of another businessman, Anoke Kingsley Roomy, with 1,100 pills of tramadol 225mg hidden in his luggage while attempting to board his Ethiopian Airlines flight going to Istanbul, Turkey, at terminal 1 of the Lagos airport on Friday, November 15.
Babafemi further said that following credible intelligence, NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, and their counterparts from the FCT Command of the Agency raided a hotel room at the Federal Housing Authority Estate, Lugbe, Abuja, on Friday, November 15, and arrested two suspects: Omeh Uchenna Jude, 36, and Anene Valentine Chigozie, 34.
The NDLEA recovered 1.8kg of Methamphetamine, which they were preparing to travel with to Qatar.
Another suspect, Akande Moruf Olasunkanmi, was arrested with 1.8kg Methamphetamine by operatives of a special operations unit in NDLEA at his 9 Durojaiye Street, Lawanson area of Surulere, Lagos home after weeks of intelligence and surveillance.
In another intelligence-led operation, officers of an NDLEA task force on Saturday, November 16, foiled the attempt by a trans-border trafficker, Emmanuel Okechukwu Okeke, to smuggle 50,000 pills of tramadol 225mg from Ghana into Lagos.
The pills were concealed in the body compartments of a Toyota Hummer Bus belonging to GUO Transport Company, driven by the suspect. The vehicle was intercepted at the Ijanikin area of the Lagos-Badagry expressway while coming from Ghana.
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