Mobolaji Michael
OPERATIVES of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA ) have arrested an automobile spare parts dealer, Ejiofor Nnaemeka Chiwuzie, over an attempt to export consignments of heroin and loud, a strain of cannabis, concealed in LED rechargeable lamps and sofa metal legs through the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport,(MMIA), Ikeja Lagos.
Ejiofor was arrested on Tuesday, 24th September 2024, at the Trade Fair Complex in the Ojo area of Lagos, where he sells automobile spare parts, following the seizure of his cargo containing auto parts, rechargeable lamps, sofa metal legs and electronics going to Liberia at the export shed of the Lagos airport.
Concealed inside the LED lamps and sofa legs were 37 parcels of heroin weighing 1.10 kilograms and four blocks of loud with a total weight of 1.20kg. A swift follow-up operation led to the arrest of two freight agents and then Ejiofor who sent the consignment.
In the same vein, attempts by drug trafficking networks to export consignments of loud, tramadol pills, co-codamol tablets, pentazocine injections, dihydrocodeine and promethazine tabs through some courier companies to the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Thailand and Oman were foiled by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operation and General Investigation (DOGI) attached to the logistics firms.
While 2.3kg of loud hidden in a carton was going to Thailand, 749 grams of tramadol concealed in soles of locally made footwear were heading to Oman, with 60 ampoules of pentazocine injection going to the United States. No less than 200 pills of co-codamol were meant for Australia, while a total of 700 tablets of dihydrocodeine, promethazine and tramadol, as well as 20 ampoules of pentazocine, injection concealed in soles of footwear, were heading to the United Kingdom. Going to Canada were 58 ampoules of pentazocine injection hidden in female clothes. All the seizures in the courier houses were made between Monday, 23rd, and Tuesday, 24th September, in Lagos.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday 25th September arrested a wanted drug kingpin Ajiboye Damilare Samuel (a.k.a Na God) after 12 months of evading arrest following the raid of his warehouse in Akala, Mushin area of Lagos, where a total of 1,101 kilograms of Ghana Loud, a strong strain of cannabis was recovered on 4th Defendant September 2023. The arrest of Ajiboye in a bank in Ogun State followed well-coordinated efforts by the Agency’s Directorate of Assets and Financial Investigation, which traced 20 bank accounts linked to the suspect and blocked them. 
In like manner, NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Friday 27th September took into custody a wanted community leader and Sarkin Yamma of Badagry, Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Talba, following the arrest of his two wives: Hauwa and Asma’u and son, Sadat as well as the seizure of a total of 226.2kg cannabis at their homes in Badagry on 18th September.
In another operation in Lagos, no less than 9.7kg cannabis sativa and 50 litres of monkey tail, a fermented combo of cannabis and dry gin, was recovered from a suspect Florence Moses at Badore area of Ajah, Lekki on Tuesday, 24th September.
In Kogi, three suspects: Owolabi Dele, 42; Ayodele Monday, 40; and Olawale Ojo, 22, were arrested by NDLEA operatives along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja Expressway while conveying 132 sacks of cannabis weighing 2,062.00kg in a Mercedes container truck from Osun state to Dei Dei in Abuja. Another suspect, Benedict Simire, 57, was arrested at Ayetoro Road, Kabba, conveying 33.40kg of the same psychoactive substance and a pump action gun with six cartridges on Wednesday, 25th September.
On the same Wednesday, operatives of the Marine Command of NDLEA intercepted two 40HP Yamaha engine boats bearing 71 bags of Ghana Loud weighing 2,982kgs along Alfa beach, Lekki area of Lagos. Men of the Nigerian Customs Service Western Marine Command were on hand to support the NDLEA officers to recover the boat and exhibits after the two suspects in the boat dived into the water.
Also, on Wednesday, 25th September, NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports complex, Onne, Rivers State, intercepted 1,500 cartons of codeine-based cough syrup containing a total of 150,000 bottles during a joint examination of a targeted 40ft container, with men of Nigerian Customs and other security agencies.
While NDLEA operatives in Niger State recovered 6,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection from Chukwudi Nwanoche, 38, at the former Minna city gate, their counterparts in Kano arrested Aminu Danmanya, 31, with 15,530 capsules of tramadol at Kano residential hotel, Katsina road.
In Plateau State, operatives on Friday 27th September arrested a female suspect Jummai Luka, 58, behind Jehovah’s Witness junction, Kabong, Jos North Local Government Area, in possession of 12,000 pills of tramadol while NDLEA officers in Oyo State on Tuesday 24th September nabbed Segun Asogba, 50, with 601kg cannabis sativa and a Dane gun at Igangan town.
In Katsina, two ex-convicts: Muhammad Machido, 44, and Zakari Ya’u Buhari, 32, were again arrested by NDLEA operatives with illicit substances. While Muhammad was nabbed along Kano-Katsina Highway, Kankia, on Monday, 23rd September, with 51,000 pills of opioids, Zakari was arrested in Daura with 14 blocks of cannabis weighing 7kg. Zakari was first arrested on 8th February 2024 and sentenced by the court to 15 months imprisonment with an option of a 15,000 fine, which he paid. In his case, Muhammad was earlier arrested with 45kg cannabis sativa and 2.5kg tramadol on 12th December 2022. He was then sentenced to two years imprisonment. 
While Benjamin Benjamin Ebei, 33, was arrested at Biase Local Government in Cross River State, with 38kg cannabis recovered from his vehicle, operatives in Edo State on Tuesday 24th September raided a house along Okpuje Road, Uzebba in Owan West Local Government Area where they arrested a suspect, Idonuan Ajilo, 53, and seized 112.5kg cannabis from his store.
Meanwhile, across the country, NDLEA Commands continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation lectures and advocacy visits to worship centres, schools, workplaces, palaces of traditional rulers and communities all through the past week. Instances include WADA sensitisation lecture to students and staff of Government Girls Secondary School, Kafur, Katsina; students and teachers of Akinlade Primary School, Ajah, Lagos; students of St. Patrick’s Secondary School, Ikot Ansa, Calabar, Cross River; and WADA advocacy lecture at the palace of Aree of Iree town, Osun State, Oba Muritala Oyelakin, among others.
Eighteen-Eleven Media