ATTEMPT by an import and export businessman, Olisaka (surname withheld) to smuggle 256 wraps of cocaine weighing six kilograms into the country through the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, MAKIA, Kano, has been thwarted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
The seizure, which was the single largest interception of cocaine at the Kano airport since the creation of MAKIA Command of NDLEA in 2006, was made on Sunday, December 15, during the inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 941 from Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Olisaka, who claimed to be into import and export business, was subjected to body screening during which he was found to have packed hundreds of cocaine pellets in his body.
A similar attempt by an ex-convict, Olanrewaju (surname withheld) to export a consignment of rohypnol to South Africa through the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos, was equally frustrated by NDLEA officers at the airport.
The consignment was hidden in a cargo containing garri, shoes, men’s singlets and other items.
Olarenwaju was convicted for a similar crime earlier this year following his arrest on December 12, 2023 for attempting to ship 4.90 kilograms of tramadol and 2.10 kilograms of Rohypnol to South Africa through the export shed of the Lagos airport.
He was sentenced to two years imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Lagos with an option to pay a fine of N900,000, which he paid and was freed before returning to repeat the same crime.
An Italy-based businesswoman, Cynthia (surname withheld), was on Wednesday, December 18, arrested by NDLEA officers while trying to board a Royal Air Maroc flight to Italy via Addis Ababa.
The suspect was intercepted at the departure point of Terminal 2 of the Lagos airport during an outward clearance of passengers going to Italy. A total of 9,190 tablets of various brands of tramadol weighing 6.00 kilogram were recovered from her.
According to her, she was promised 1,000 Euros upon successful delivery of the consignment in Italy.
No fewer than 418,330 pills of tramadol 225mg, 100mg and tapentadol 250mg as well as 8,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were recovered from a warehouse at a building material market in Onitsha, Anambra State, on Tuesday, December 17, when NDLEA operatives raided the market following credible intelligence.
At the Tincan Island port in Lagos, a total of 180,000 bottles of codeine syrup were recovered on Wednesday, December 18, from a container, which originated from Mundra, India.
The seizure was made during a joint examination of the container by men of NDLEA, Customs, DSS, police, and other security agencies at the port, while a suspect Makata (surname withheld), who is the consignee and notify party, was promptly taken into custody.
A total of 293,000 capsules of tramadol, a pistol and 26 rounds of 7.65mm live ammunition were recovered from the duo of Ishaya (54) and Samaila (44), when they were arrested in a Toyota Sienna bus at Pompomari Bypass, Maiduguri, Borno State, while another suspect, Sanusi (37), was nabbed at Gwange area of the state capital with 260,000 capsules of the same psychoactive substance on December 16.
A 35-year-old suspect, Modu (surname withheld), was equally arrested on Wednesday, December 18, at Customs area of Maiduguri with 8.5 kilograms of cannabis, 5,000 pills of tramadol; 7,500 tabs of diazepam; 14,500 tablets of exol and 50 litres of ‘suck and die’, a new psychoactive substance, in his Volkswagen Golf car.
While a suspect Gafar (30), was arrested on Wednesday, December 18, with 33.5 kilograms of cannabis sativa, at Ayete, Oyo State, NDLEA operatives in Enugu same day raided the Aria new market where they recovered 94 kilogram of same substance.
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