By Uche Onyeali
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, arrested an ex-convict, Eniola Sodade, for passport racketeering at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos.
This was disclosed yesterday in Abuja by the spokesman of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi.
According to Babafemi, the suspect had earlier been arrested by operatives of Tincan Command, Lagos in June, 2024 for drug trafficking.
He said the suspect had earlier prosecuted and sentenced to four years in prison.
The NDLEA spokesman also disclosed that when he was convicted by the Federal High Court in Lagos on June 14, 2024, the trial judge gave him an option of paying N750,000 fine, which he paid and was let go.
“However, in a series of operations in December 2024, NDLEA operatives at the export shed of the Lagos airport, intercepted no fewer than 52 passports of different countries.
“These were recovered from shipments going to Canada, Russia and other countries, and were concealed in shoe soles and food items.
“Further investigations led to the arrest of four members of three syndicates involved in the racket.
“The arrested suspects include: the ex-convict, Sodade, while others are Saheed Awwal, Salaudeen Afeez and Adebayo Bamigbade.
“Both the exhibits and the suspects were on Monday, December 30, 2024 handed over to the Zonal Command of the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, in Lagos for further investigation and possible prosecution,” he said.
The agency disclosed that not less than 316,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup were recovered from two containers by NDLEA officers at Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, during a joint examination of the shipments with men of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, and other security agencies on Tuesday, December 31.
“The seizure followed credible intelligence processed by the Port Harcourt command of the agency,” he stated.
Also, in Kano, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, December 31, raided Mafarki, Dan Dishe area of Dala Local Government Area, where they recovered 149,090 pills of tramadol and exol-5 from a local dealer, 45 year-old Ismail Muhammad.
Again, in Kwara , a fresh graduate, Khadijat Abdulraheem, 24, and a 20 year-old student of the University of Ilorin, Ayomide Morakinyo were on Sunday, December 29, arrested by NDLEA operatives at Tanke-University road, Oke Odo, Ilorin.
Babafemi said their arrest was based on credible intelligence that they were producing and selling drug laced cupcakes to students in the community.
“When their apartment was searched, 42 pieces of drug laced cakes were recovered,” he stated.
