By Uche Onyeali
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have intercepted 12 parcels of cocaine concealed in the false bottom of food flasks at the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos.
Its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this in a statement yesterday in Abuja, said the illicit consignment, weighing 2.80 kilograms, was bound for the United Kingdom on a Virgin Atlantic flight.
Babafemi said the drugs were intercepted on April 9, leading to the arrest of two cargo agents, Ama Obinna Ufeim, 33, and Ogabi Monday Akorede, 39.
According to the statement, further investigations resulted in the arrest of the alleged sender, a 52-year-old freight forwarder, Agoro Tajudeen Moninuola.
In a related operation at the airport’s import shed on April 8, NDLEA operatives seized 2.90 kilograms of “loud,” a potent strain of cannabis, hidden in snack packs on a Delta Airlines flight from the United States.
Two cargo clearing agents, Animashaun Moshood Adetunji and Mercy Gabriel Oluwasegun, were initially arrested, while the consignee, Saheed Adeshina Adegoke, a 29-year-old fashion designer, was later apprehended in Ogba, Lagos.
Similarly, operatives on patrol along the Kaduna–Zaria Highway intercepted a truck conveying cement on April 13.
A search uncovered 760 blocks and 33 jumbo bags of skunk, another cannabis strain, weighing 847 kilograms. The driver, Umar Garba Haruna, 33, was arrested.
In Cross River State, a 53-year-old suspect, Alice Sunday Udoh, was arrested on April 16 during a raid on a forest in Uwet community, Akamkpa Local Government Area. Operatives destroyed 15,000 kilograms of cannabis cultivated on six hectares of farmland and recovered an additional 119 kilograms.
Similarly, a cannabis farm in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State was raided on April 14, where 2,281.43 kilogrammes of the substance were destroyed.
Three suspects — Nweke Smart, 27; Christopher Egbe, 62; and Monday Ayan, 45 — were arrested.
In Delta State, two other suspects, Sunday Odili, 49, and Ijenebe Joshua, 39, were apprehended with 87.838 kilograms of skunk and seeds.
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives arrested two suspects, Chinedu Ogbekene and Zindozin Aloukou Bienvenu, on April 15 along Mile 2–Badagry Expressway while transporting 11,900 capsules of tramadol and 400 ampoules of phenobarbital injection to Ghana.
On the same day, officers raided a building in the Petti area of Lagos Island, recovering 95.8 kilograms of skunk.
The agency said its commands nationwide also sustained advocacy campaigns under its War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, initiative, targeting schools, religious centres, workplaces and communities.
The NDLEA Chairman, Mohammed Marwa commended officers across the affected commands for their efforts, urging them to maintain the momentum in both enforcement and public sensitisation.
