Michael Olugbode in Abuja
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a 40-year-old businessman, Ejike Solomon with 1.45 kilogrammes of cocaine concealed in his luggage while attempting to board an Ethiopia Airlines flight to Vietnam via Addis Ababa, from the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja.
According to a statement by the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, Ejike was arrested at the Abuja airport on Saturday after NDLEA officers subjected him to a thorough search, and in the process, the illicit substance was discovered concealed, factory fitted, in his bag.
In the statement the suspect gave to NDLEA, he claimed he was on a business trip to Vietnam.
Also, operatives of a special unit of the agency last Friday swooped on members of a syndicate that deals in methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin in their hideouts in parts of Lagos.
Babafemi said the operatives assigned for the operation raided the home of Esimone Amachukwu at 14 Arochukwu street, Ejigbo, where 10.012 kilogrammes of methamphetamine was found in possession of his associate, 40-year-old Evelyn Nneka Okem. Esimone is said to be currently at large.
The NDLEA spokesman said while the Ejigbo operation was going on, another set of officers were simultaneously busy in the residence of another member of the syndicate, 45-year-old Ebele Iwuegbunam, located at Plot 1604 Close D, 4th Avenue, Festac town, Lagos where they arrested him and recovered 429.5 grammes of cocaine and 7 kilogrammes of heroin.
In Kogi state, NDLEA officers on a stop and search operation along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway last Friday intercepted a commercial bus marked GRM 347XA (Borno) conveying 28 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 11 kilogrammes.
Also, 100 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup and 500 tablets of diazepam, all concealed in three plastic drums covered with cattle fats, heading to Jos Plateau state were discovered.
Besides, operatives in Ogun state last Thursday recovered 169 kilogrammes consignment of cannabis abandoned in a truck at Sagamu tollgate while their counterparts in Lagos seized 25 cartons of tramadol containing 325,000 pills in Ikeja the previous day Wednesday.
On the same day, a suspect, Abdullahi Khalil, 42, and 2,745,000 capsules of pregabalin recovered from him at Singer market, Sabon Gari area of Kano were handed over to the Kano state command of NDLEA by the Department of State Security (DSS).
In the same vein, the 243 Recce Battalion, Nigerian Army, Badagry on Saturday transferred 27 sacks of cannabis sativa weighing 1,110 kilogrammes recovered at a coastal community, Ajido by soldiers, to the Seme Special Area Command of NDLEA.
A suspect, Hassan Muhammad, 34, was on the same day arrested with 44,950 pills of tramadol at Moranti area of Borno state by NDLEA operatives.
In Abia state, NDLEA operatives last Thursday raided a drug joint at Cemetery Barracks, Aba, where Ifeanyi Uche, 37, was arrested with different quantities of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. Another raid was carried out at the abandoned Eyimba Hotel, Ogbor Hill, Aba, where illicit substances were seized and suspects arrested last Friday.
Babafemi said with the same zeal, the various commands of the agency across the country continued with the War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, advocacy campaign in the past week.
