New attempts by members of some transnational drug trafficking organizations to export various quantities of methamphetamine and skunk through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, and courier companies in Lagos, according to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Despite this, on Tuesday, NDLEA reported that Ugwu Peter Tochukwu had been apprehended for trying to bring drugs onto a Qatar Airways flight bound for Oman.
After a comprehensive examination of the suspect’s luggage, the anti-narcotics service reported finding 7.50 kg of skunk disguised among crayfish mixed with dry bitter leaf.
Director of Media and Advocacy for the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, made this announcement in a statement released on Sunday.
Babafemi also claimed that 2.9 kilograms of skunk and 14 grams of methamphetamine were intercepted en route to Dubai by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations attached to some courier companies.
Moreover, he revealed that on Wednesday, NDLEA agents patrolling the Aba-Owerri expressway seized five pregnant teenage females they believe were victims of child trafficking being used as a baby factory.
He claims that they were apprehended when they were being moved from their safe house in the Naze neighborhood of Owerri to the city of Ikenegbu.
Chioma Emmanuel, 15, Divine Adimonye, 17, Opara Gift, 15, and Amarachi Mbata, 16, were named in the statement as the victims.
According to the NDLEA spokesman, the women who came forward said they didn’t know the fathers of their children.
He did say, though, that the Imo State Command of the Agency had been told to turn them over to NAPTIP for further examination.
A female suspect, Bilikisu Salako, 35, was arrested on September 16 in the Ifo area of Ogun state with 108 kilograms of cannabis, and two male suspects, Moses Akowe, 32, and Sunday Gabriel, 31, were arrested with 227.1 kilograms of cannabis on Tuesday at Ikebe village, Ankpa LGA, Kogi state.
Two other suspects, Muntari Nasiru and Yusuf Ali, were apprehended in follow-up operations in Kano, and they were linked to the 100 blocks of cannabis weighing 55 kilograms and 600 bottles of codeine-based syrup seized from Salisu Murtala and Shafi’u Dahiru on Tuesday, September 11 along Abuja road.
Kingsley Chimaobi, 27, was detained on September 11th along Lokogoma-Abuja road in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja with 6,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup.
Segun Odeyemi, a drug dealer, was sentenced to five years in prison on Wednesday by a Federal High Court in Lagos for trafficking and dealing in 3,842 kilograms of skunk, according to the anti-narcotics agency.
Odeyemi was accused in suit number FHC/L/388C/2023 presided over by Justice Akintayo Aluko after being apprehended by the NDLEA on July 1 while transporting 89 jumbo bags of the illicit substance in his vehicle in the Eleganza neighbourhood of Ajah, Lekki.
The Agency’s various commands have been spreading its anti-drug abuse advocacy messages to the public through ongoing sensitization events for the past week, as highlighted in the statement.
Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa, (Ret. ), Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, praised the officers and men of the MMIA, Imo, Kaduna, Ogun, Kogi, FCT, and Lagos Commands, as well as those of DOGI, for ramping up their efforts to combat the drug trade.
Marwa praised the dedication of all the commands around the country to collaborate with other stakeholders to bring WADA awareness lectures and advocacy messages to communities, schools, places of worship, workplaces, and traditional institutions.
To not give up, he urged them.
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