The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 74-year-old man, Ikwuakalom Nwakoro Emeka, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja after operatives discovered a large consignment of cocaine hidden in his luggage.
According to the agency, the septuagenarian who claimed he was travelling to London, United Kingdom, for a vacation was arrested at the departure hall while attempting to board a British Airways flight BA082 to Heathrow on Saturday.
This was disclosed in a statement on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, Director of Media and Advocacy at the NDLEA headquarters in Abuja.
Babafemi said blocks of cocaine weighing 11 kilograms were discovered hidden inside food items, including ground dry pepper, carefully wrapped in foil papers and balloons during a search of the suspect’s luggage.
In a separate operation in Lagos, NDLEA operatives acting on credible intelligence arrested a woman, Maryam Olalowo, in the early hours of Monday, March 9, at Ikad Hotel and Suites on Etim Inyang Street in Victoria Island while she was allegedly attempting to sell 89 grams of cocaine and 20 grams of Canadian Loud, a strain of cannabis.
She was found with her three children, including an infant, at the time of the arrest. She later confessed that the drugs belonged to her husband, Ibrahim Olalowo Olatunji, who was subsequently arrested the same day while his wife was immediately released.
Ibrahim reportedly admitted ownership of the drugs, while further investigation revealed he had previously been arrested, convicted, and sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment for a similar offence in 2015.
In another interdiction operation, NDLEA operatives arrested two suspects, Kalilou Simpara and Saidu Ibrahim at Ebetu Ero on Lagos Island, where officers recovered 68,000 pills of tramadol (250mg and 225mg) after the suspects had loaded the drugs into a truck and were preparing to transport them to Benin Republic.
A follow-up operation on Wednesday, March 11, at Idumota Market, Lagos Island led to the arrest of the alleged owner of the consignment, Nnamdi Cyprian.
A search of his shop uncovered a parcel already packaged for waybill delivery containing 1,000 tablets of tramadol (250mg). Another raid at the same market on Friday, March 13, resulted in the arrest of Nwanosike Kelvin and the recovery of 47,500 ampoules of pentazocine injection from his shop.
Similarly, a 42-year-old suspect, Magaji Dan Azumi, was arrested in the Bebeji area of Kano State with 386 kilograms of skunk on Tuesday, March 10.
In Abuja, NDLEA officers also recovered 282.2 kilograms of skunk from a suspect, Isah Wako, 42, in the Gwagwalada area of the Federal Capital Territory on Friday, March 13.
In Edo State, operatives raided the Egwa Forest Reserve in Aduan village, Orhionmwon Local Government Area, where a suspect, Chinedo Odalonu, 33, was arrested. During the operation, 4,218.96 kilograms of skunk were destroyed on two farms, while 16.5 kilograms of the substance were recovered.
Meanwhile, no fewer than 339,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup were intercepted in two containers at the Apapa Seaport in Lagos on Saturday, March 14, during a joint examination conducted by NDLEA officers, men of the Nigeria Customs Service, and other security agencies.
The containers had earlier been placed on NDLEA’s watch list following credible intelligence indicating that opioids had been concealed in the shipments.
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