By Uche Onyeali
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has arrested a Chinese businessman and an 80-year-old grandma for drug trafficking.
This was disclosed in a statement Sunday in Abuja by the Director of Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi.
According to Babafemi, both suspects top the list of arrests made by operatives of the NDLEA in nationwide interdiction operations, which led to the seizure of consignments of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis hidden in moi-moi sachets and Canadian Loud, another strong strain of cannabis concealed in canned food items imported from Canada.
The NDLEA spokesman said the Chinese suspect was arrested by NDLEA operatives at the arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos, on Friday, July 25, based on actionable intelligence.
He said the suspect, who arrived Nigeria from Bangkok, Thailand, via Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Emirates Airline flight, was a Chinese national, naturalised and based in Malaysia.
He added that he flew to Thailand where he picked two suitcases filled with 50 parcels of Loud weighing 26.10kg before heading to Nigeria via UAE.
“Upon his arrival at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives who were tracking his movement from his port of departure allowed him to pass through necessary protocols before picking him up on his way out of the airport.
“The octogenarian grandma was arrested at Edet-Nsa street, Base Site, Calabar South, Cross River state with over 3kg skunk in the early hours of Saturday, July 26.
“This followed intelligence on her drug dealing activities,” he said.
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, July 23 intercepted a suspect along Epe – Ajah expressway while taking consignments of 21.7kg Colorado.
Babafemi said some of the drugs were packaged in moimoi cooking sachets.
He said the NDLEA operatives also recovered from him 3.8litres of codeine based syrup in a commercial bus to deliver in Warri and Oghara, Delta state.
Babafemi added that NDLEA also recovered a total of 101kg Canadian Loud factory packed in 202 tins of imported food item labelled ‘Bean Salad Mix’ at the Apapa seaport in Lagos.
He said the drugs were concealed in two Toyota Sienna buses in a container that came from Canada.
“The discovery was made during a joint examination of the container by NDLEA officers, men of Customs Service and other security agencies on Friday, July 25,” he said.
The War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, social advocacy activities by NDLEA Commands equally continued across the country in the past week.
