NDLEA arrests businessman at Enugu Airport for taking 90 packets of cocaine

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 50-year-old businessman, Osuoha Iheanacho, at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, for ingesting 90 wraps of cocaine.

A press statement on Sunday by Anti-Narcotics Bureau spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said Osuoha was intercepted at the arrival hall of Enugu Airport last Wednesday during the inbound screening of passengers arriving from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on an Ethiopian Airlines flight after months of intelligence and surveillance on him.

Babafemi said he was then subjected to excretion observation during which he ingested 90 pellets of cocaine weighing 2.019 kilograms in seven excretions.

He said investigations revealed that the suspect, who operates telephone and accessory businesses in Lagos and Gabon, traveled by road from Gabon to Douala, Cameroon, from where he took a flight to Addis Ababa, where he seized the pellets of cocaine during transit swallowed and then continued his behavior. travel to Enugu with Lagos as final destination.

He was said to have deliberately complicated his movement to distort traces of his travel history, without knowing that he had been on the NDLEA watch list for the past three months.

In his statement, Osuoha reportedly admitted that he desperately needed the money from the criminal drug trade to boost his declining telephone and accessories business.

Babafemi said that in another well-coordinated operation carried out last Thursday by a Special Operations Unit of the agency, the head of a cocaine distribution cartel, 42-year-old Ndive Obinna was arrested along with five of his associates at Ago Palace Way in Okota . Isolo, Lagos, with a total of 2,412 kilograms of cocaine recovered.

He noted that other members of the drug trafficking organization arrested along Obinna include: Okeke Ifeoma, the stock holder of the syndicate; Ikechebelu Chibuzor; Okorie Onyedikachi; Okonkwo Nnabugo; and Okafor Anita.

In a related development, another drug syndicate led by a Chinese man, 58-year-old Tianzhen Yen (alias Jackie), has been dismantled by NDLEA operatives following his arrest at his hotel in Ikeja, Lagos. Officers of the agency’s Seme Special Area Command had last Thursday intercepted a 40-year-old suspect, Yakubu Mark, on a commercial bus bound for Ghana at the Gbaji checkpoint along the Badagry-Seme highway, based on credible intelligence.

Babafemi said when he was searched, a total of 750 grams of cocaine was found in his bag. A rapid follow-up operation was organized to track down and arrest the kingpin behind the cross-border drug trafficking syndicate, who turned out to be a Chinese national, Tianzhen Yen.

He was eventually traced to MC Hotel behind Alade Market, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos. When his hotel room was searched, 4.3 grams of cocaine was found; one gram of methamphetamine; two electronic scales; and the Chinese National Identification Card, among other things, were recovered while he was arrested near the hotel.

At the Tincan Seaport in Lagos, NDLEA operatives last Friday intercepted 92 parcels of Loud, a synthetic cannabis strain with a combined weight of 23.25 kilograms, hidden in two vehicles imported from Canada: a Nissan car and a GMC bus. The discovery was made during a joint investigation of a container from Canada by NDLEA operatives, men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other stakeholders.

In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports complex Onne last Thursday intercepted two containers of imported opioids during a joint investigation with men of Customs and other security agencies.

He said a total of 168,000 bottles of codeine based syrup worth about N1.2 billion in street value were recovered from one of the containers while the second contained 4.5 million pills of super royal tramadol 225mg worth about N3 .2 billion, which gave the combined value. value of both codeine and tramadol consignments to over N4.3 billion.

In Ekiti State, NDLEA operatives on Sunday, November 17, arrested a 50-year-old physically challenged woman, Mustapha Boja, with 286 grams of Colorado and Loud varieties of cannabis at Araromi Street, Ikere-Ekiti, while 64 kilos of cannabis sativa was recovered in Ekiti State. Akinyele Motor Park, Ibadan, Oyo State last Thursday.

No less than 1,200.5 kilograms of the same psychoactive substance was seized during raids by NDLEA operatives in parts of Edo State. In the Utese forest in Ovia North East local government area, 463.5 kilograms were recovered last Thursday; while 507 kilograms were seized from a premises in Owan village, Ovia local government area, where duo David Ederin, 60, and Afoje Frank, 24, were arrested on Friday, November 22. Another suspect, Godwin Okhoya, 40, was nabbed with 230kg of the same substance in Okpuje, Owan West Local Government Area.

Four suspects in Kano: Usman Sani, 25; Abdul Mohammed, 28; Bunu Ali, 27; and Umar Musa, 30, were arrested last Tuesday by NDLEA operatives at Gadar Tamburawa, Zaria-Kano Road, with 100 blocks of cannabis weighing 45 kilograms, while Ayuba Zaranda, 55, was arrested with 124 kilograms of cannabis in Pengana village, Toro local government area. , Bauchi State.

Babafemi said commandos and formations of the organization across the country have continued with the same vigor in the past week their war against drug abuse, WADA and sensitization activities for schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities.

Meanwhile, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. General Buba Marwa (Rtd) stated that their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country, especially their balanced approach to efforts to reduce drug supply and demand, are highly appreciated.

Michael Olugbode

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