NDLEA busts UK-bound opioid shipment, arrests freight agent, businesswoman

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested an Ibadan, Oyo State-based businesswoman, Mrs Adewunmi Adebola 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 Director of Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Femi Babafemi, made this known in a statement on Sunday.

He said, “NDLEA officers at the export shed of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Friday, 6th September 2024, intercepted a cargo bound for the United Kingdom. A thorough search of the consignment revealed 924 bottles of codeine-based syrup weighing 135.70kg and 5,250 tablets of Rohypnol 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 from Ibadan for him to deliver to the agent. A follow-up operation on Saturday, 7th September, 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 ₦2,411,000.00 for the job and ₦2.1 million for a similar consignment he handled for the businesswoman earlier.”

In the same vein, NDLEA operatives at the export shed of Lagos Airport on Wednesday, 11th September, intercepted some cartons of auto spare parts and containers of checkers powder custard bound for Congo Brazzaville via Ethiopian Airlines. 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.

Babafemi said 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, Lagos.

Meanwhile, operatives of the Special Operations Unit of NDLEA, on Tuesday, 10th September, arrested two brothers, Ikechukwu Ikeabba and Ugochukwu Ikeabba, who are sponsors of drug traffickers specialising in exporting drugs by ingestion to Vietnam. Their arrest followed a diligent investigation into the earlier arrest of Onitsha-based businessman, Ibeanusi Solomon Nosike, who excreted 68 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.282 kilograms after 12 days of excretion observation following his arrest at the local wing of Lagos Airport by NDLEA operatives.

The 36-year-old Ibeanusi was arrested in the early hours of Thursday, 8th August 2024, at the old domestic terminal of 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 Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at about 10 a.m. the same day.

Another Vietnam-bound businessman, 54-year-old Paul Okwuy Mbadugha, was arrested by NDLEA operatives at Abuja Airport on Monday, 12th August 2024, during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam via Doha after he tested positive for ingestion of cocaine. After four days under observation, Mbadugha egested 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.

In Gombe State, NDLEA operatives, acting on credible intelligence, on Saturday, 14th September, 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. A search of the vehicle led to the seizure of 2,490,000 tramadol pills concealed in bags of salt.

The statement further read, “A suspect, Idris Adamu, 23, was arrested with 41.5 kilograms of cannabis sativa in Kachia town, Kaduna State, on Tuesday, 10th September, while two suspects, Godiya Sekyen Jikuk, 36, and Yusuf Umaru, 65, were nabbed in Isinbode-Ekiti, Ekiti State, with a total of 73.6kg of cannabis on Wednesday, 11th September.

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

“Not less than 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were discovered by NDLEA operatives in two containers shipped from India during a joint examination of the containers with Customs officers and other security agencies at Tincan Port, Lagos, on Tuesday, 10th September. The containers were part of those targeted by NDLEA for 100 per cent examination.”

With the same vigour, commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities to schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities, among others, over the past week. These include WADA enlightenment lectures to students and staff of Government Secondary School, Galamawa, and Government Junior Secondary School, Kaci, Dutse, Jigawa State; students of Kukudus Islamic School, Minna, Niger State; nurses and midwives at UBTH School of Nursing, Ugbowo, Benin City, Edo State; members of the Vulcanisers Association of Nigeria in Ibarapa Central LGA, Oyo State; Muslim faithful at Central Mosque, Demsa, Adamawa State, and a WADA advocacy visit to the Emir of Rano, Kano State, Alhaji Muhammad Isah Umaru, among others.

While commending the officers and men of the Special
Operations Unit, MMIA, Tincan, Lagos, Gombe, Kaduna, Bauchi, and Ekiti Commands of the Agency for their arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd), stated that their operational successes, along with those of their compatriots across the country, are highly appreciated.

He urged them to continue intensifying ongoing drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.