By Olukayode Idowu
A Vietnam-bound businessman, Paul Mbadugha, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja after he tested positive to ingestion of cocaine.
The 54-year-old suspect was intercepted at the boarding gate of the Abuja airport last Monday during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam via Doha.
The spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday said after four days under excretion observation, Mbadugha egressed a total of 88 wraps of cocaine with a gross weight of 1.71 kilogrammes.
Babafemi said in Mbadugha’s statement, he claimed he’s a Lagos based businessman and was given the cocaine pellets to swallow by a friend at Isolo area of the state for onward delivery in Vietnam for a fee of $2,000.
The spokesman said also NDLEA officers at the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos have intercepted a shipment of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 800 grammes concealed in noodles going to Congo, he added that a follow up operation at the Alaba International market, Ojo area of Lagos led to the arrest of the sender of the consignment, Nnamani Sunday, who deals in GSM handsets.
He also revealed that a large consignment of Loud imported from Canada have been recovered by NDLEA operatives at the Lagos airport, stating that a suspect, Desalu Temitope, who arrived on board an Air France flight with six boxes was arrested by anti-narcotic officers during a joint examination by security agencies at the arrival hall.
He said a total of 65.8 kilogrammes of the psychoactive substance were recovered from four of the six suitcases, Desalu in his statement was said to have disclosed that he and an accomplice currently at large were promised $10,000 upon successful delivery of the shipment in Lagos.
Babafemi also revealed that no less than 892,400 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth N6,246,800,000.00 in street value were recovered from five containers by NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers state during a joint examination of the containers with men of the Nigeria Customs and other port stakeholders last Wednesday
He said the bottles of the opioid were packed in 5,337 cartons with a gross weight of 133,860 kilogrammes and shipped in five containers from India.
In Ekiti State, NDLEA operatives supported by men of the Nigerian Army and other security agencies as well as community youths last Wednesday raided the Ise forest reserve, Saalaja camp, Ise-Ekiti, where 21,800 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa on 20 hectares of farm land were destroyed.
Babafemi said the following day, last Thursday, NDLEA officers on patrol along Onitsha- Enugu road in Enugu intercepted a Sienna bus marked SKA-24 AG from which 200.2 kilogrammes of cannabis was recovered and the driver, Okoro Emmanuel, 41, arrested.
He said while the duo of Joseph Apeh, 45, and Diamond Nnabuike, 21, were arrested with 145,400 pills of tramadol last Monday at Gadar Tamburawa, area of Kano, NDLEA operatives in Ogun state last Tuesday arrested 70-year-old Fidelis Egede and three others: Samuel Sylvanus, 31; Jato Samson, 33; and Francis Blessing, 28, when a cannabis plantation on six hectares was raided at Alaka village.
In Abuja, NDLEA officers on patrol along Kwali-Gwagwalada expressway last Tuesday intercepted a truck from which 30,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection were recovered and three suspects: Ifeanyi Sunday, Jeremiah Paul and Edet Ubokobong arrested.
NDLEA operatives in Niger state last Thursday arrested Ifeanyi Chukwueze in Kontagora town with 28,500 pills of tramadol concealed in a loudspeaker, their counterparts in Kogi state last Wednesday nabbed Abba Yakubu with 40,000 pills of the same opioid heading to Kontagora.
Another suspect, Tochukwu Onah, 39, was arrested by NDLEA officers at Paparanda, Lokoja last Thursday with 1,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection.
Babafemi said across the country, NDLEA commands continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization lectures and advocacy visits to worship centres, schools, workplaces, palaces of traditional rulers and communities all through the week.
Meanwhile, while commending the officers and men of the NAIA, MMIA, PHPC, FCT, Kogi, Ogun, Ekiti, Kano, Enugu and Niger commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd) also applauded their compatriots in all the commands across the country for intensifying the WADA sensitization lectures and advocacy messages to every part of their areas of responsibility.
