Operatives of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have arrested a 70-year-old grandfather with 57.2kg of cannabis in Nasarawa State and also seized over N2.1 billion codeine-based syrup and Loud, a synthetic cannabis strain, at Port Harcourt seaport and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
Also arrested by the anti-drug operatives were two suspects with 426kg of cannabis in Ekiti State.
The developments were made known on Sunday in a statement signed by NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
The anti-narcotics agency also made other arrests in the FCT, Katsina and Nasarawa States.
The statement reads, “Large consignments of codeine-based syrup and Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis worth over N2.1 billion in street value have been intercepted at the Port Harcourt seaport, Onne and Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
“At the Lagos airport, NDLEA officers with the cooperation of other security agencies on Friday, May 31 intercepted a large consignment of Loud, packed in eight suitcases, containing 320 parcels with a total weight of 164.50kg of the strong psychoactive substance coming from Canada on a KLM flight via Amsterdam, Netherlands.
“The consignment estimated to be worth N960 million which was brought in by a passenger, Ughenu Nnaife Francis, was discovered at the E-arrival hall of the airport by personnel of the NDLEA, customs and others during a joint search operation while the suspect was attempting to smuggle the suitcases out of the hall.”
According to the statement, the suspect arrested at the Lagos airport claimed he was recruited to transport drugs from Canada to Nigeria for a fee of N6 million.
The suspect said he was a resident of Germany but travelled to Toronto to collect the drugs and was caught with a large consignment of Loud, a synthetic cannabis strain, worth N960 million.
