The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) operatives arrested a 40-year-old ‘businessman,’ Sherif Egbo Ally, based in Madrid, Spain, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
He was attempting to board an Air France flight to Paris, France when authorities discovered that he had ingested illicit drugs. On Saturday, October 14th, a body scanner revealed that he had concealed wraps of illicit drugs in his stomach. He was subsequently placed under observation at the Agency’s exhibit recovery room, where he excreted 93 pellets of heroin weighing 2.222 kilograms.
In his statement, Ally claimed to work at a chicken hatchery farm in Madrid, Spain, while also being involved in the drug trafficking business.
In a separate incident, NDLEA operatives at the NAHCO imports shed of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos seized a consignment of 10 cartons containing 500,000 pills of tramadol 225mg, branded as tapentadol. The cargo, shipped from India through Qatar Airways, was meant to be a transit cargo to Monrovia, Liberia. However, the NDLEA uncovered this scheme through their partnership and real-time intelligence sharing with their Liberian counterparts.
At the Lagos airport, NDLEA officers also thwarted an attempt by an intending passenger to Muscat, Oman, on Qatar Airways. Ngene Chinecherem Oscar was arrested, and the officers seized 11.100kgs of skunk and 600grams of tramadol concealed in foodstuffs.
In another operation, NDLEA officers from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI), working with courier companies, intercepted 1kg of methamphetamine concealed in containers of body cream intended for New Zealand. Additionally, another consignment of 2.5kgs of cocaine and phenacetin was hidden in the walls of a carton, destined for Saudi Arabia.
Two more seizures were made at a different courier company in Lagos on Wednesday, October 18th. 112grams of Dimethyl Sulfone were concealed in the hollow of a motor driving shaft, destined for New Zealand, while a consignment of Cocaine and phenacetin was packed into a bottle of body cream, intended for Saudi Arabia.
In Imo state, on Sunday, October 15th, operatives intercepted a Mercedes Benz container truck parked in an isolated area along the Owerri – Onitsha expressway. A search of the abandoned truck led to the recovery of 168 bags of skunk, weighing 1,854 kilograms. Additionally, not less than 1,381.3kgs of the same substance were seized in four different operations in parts of Edo state.
In Kano state, an ex-convict, Aminu Suleiman, along with two others, was arrested on Saturday, October 14th, with 106kgs of cannabis. Aminu had previously been arrested with 22kgs of cannabis in June 2022 and convicted later that year. Four other suspects were also arrested in Kano for dealing in 75.3kgs of skunk.
Across different regions, NDLEA operatives conducted various sensitization lectures as part of their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign, engaging students, communities, workplaces, and more.
The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the recent arrests and seizures, urging officers across all formations to remain vigilant and intensify their efforts, especially with criminal networks becoming more desperate to make money as the year-end approaches.