A total of 5,527.15 kilogrammes of methamphetamine and cannabis Sativa, as well as 132,090 tablets of tramadol and 2,000 bottles of codeine, were recovered by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) across five states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja in the past week, with the arrest of a 60-year-old grandmother, a pregnant woman and others.
The NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi disclosed in a statement on Sunday, December 4, 2022, that the drug recovery and suspects’ arrests were achieved during interdiction operations.
The grandmother, Mrs Ibinosun Sandra Esther, was arrested in Ibadan, Oyo State, in a follow/up operation following the seizure of a 5.5kg Loud variant of cannabis imported into the country from South Africa.
The consignment, which she claimed was sent to her by her daughter, was concealed in two giant speakers as part of a consolidated cargo that arrived at the NAHCO import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos, on board an Airpeace Airline flight.
NDLEA operatives also intercepted 1.4 kilogrammes of methamphetamine on Saturday, November 26.
The drug was concealed inside custard tins packed among cosmetics and foodstuff going to Brazil via Doha on a Qatar Airways flight.
A cargo agent, Salako Omolara Fausat, who brought the bag containing the illicit drug to the airport, and an intending passenger to Brazil, Anyanwu Christian, who was to travel with the consignment, were promptly arrested.
Another attempt by a freight agent, Adebisi Aina Hafsat, to export 3,000 tablets of Tramadol concealed in motor spare parts to Banjul, Gambia, through the NAHCO export shed was equally thwarted by operatives who seized the consignment and arrested her on Monday, November 28. A follow-up operation to the Ebute-Meta area of Lagos the following day led to the arrest of the actual owner, Afam Chibuke Stanley, a spare parts seller.
A seizure was also made of 100,000 tablets of Royal brand of Tramadol 200mg with a gross weight of 68.90 kilogrammes imported from Karachi, Pakistan, on Ethiopian Airlines at the SAHCO import shed.
In Abuja, operatives stormed the warehouse of a notorious drug lord and an ex-convict, Ibrahim Momoh, alias ‘Ibrahim Bendel’, who escaped from prison custody to return to his criminal trade.
