The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has recorded major breakthroughs in its fight against illicit drug trafficking with the arrest of multiple suspects, including two Brazil returnees and a businesswoman, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, and across several states.
NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed that operatives apprehended Ofoma Sunday and Ukachukwu Frank Ikechukwu, who had ingested hard drugs on separate trips from Brazil.
Ofoma, 46, was arrested on 16th September upon his arrival from Laos, Brazil. He later excreted 111 wraps of heroin weighing 1.452kg after eight rounds of observation. A follow-up operation led to the arrest of Nweke Jude Chuckwudi, 55, who was designated to oversee the recovery of the drugs at a hotel in Lagos.
Similarly, Ukachukwu was intercepted on 19th September and under observation excreted five wraps of cocaine weighing 145 grams. He confessed to purchasing nine wraps of cocaine in Brazil, inserting them anally, but discarding some after experiencing severe pain during his transit in Ethiopia.
In another operation, Okolonkwo Ebere Theresa, a businesswoman from Enugu, was arrested on 14th September while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Doha with 1.40kg of methamphetamine concealed in butt pad underwear.
At the NAHCO export shed of Lagos airport, operatives intercepted 40 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 2.30kg concealed in food items bound for Hong Kong. A 59-year-old man, Umelo Ifeanyi Venatus, who presented the consignment, was arrested.
In a separate case, NDLEA officers discovered 257 grams of cocaine hidden inside seven phone chargers in a shipment destined for New Zealand.
The Agency also carried out major inland operations. In Adamawa, operatives seized 233,800 pills of tramadol in multiple raids, while in Zamfara, officers in collaboration with Community Protection Guards intercepted 1,099.4kg of skunk in a truck along Gummi-Daki Takwas road.
Two cannabis farms covering over 4.5 hectares in Edo State, with an estimated yield of more than 11 tonnes of cannabis, were also destroyed.While noting that NDLEA’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy continues nationwide in schools, religious centres, and communities, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers for their successful operations.
“These arrests and seizures represent a significant milestone in our determined effort to dismantle drug trafficking organizations operating in Nigeria and around the world, prioritizing those bent on targeting our productive youth population with illicit substances,” Marwa stated
