NDLEA intercepts 1,029.5kg skunk in natural gas tank; 524,720 tabs of opioids in Nasarawa, Kaduna, Adamawa
By Emma Ogbuehi
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), have arrested a 27-year-old drug queen, Mrs. Opoola Mujidat for planting drugs concealed in fetish bowls, containing scary native black soap and sponge on two Oman-bound male passengers at the departure hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, MMIA, Lagos.
The passengers: Raji Babatunde Kazeem and Akinbobola Omoniyi were travelling together to Oman, Middle East on Ethiopian Airlines flight on Monday, July 11, when they were intercepted by NDLEA operatives at the airport. A search of their luggage revealed wraps of cannabis sativa hidden in bowls of native black soap and sponge packed into a bag containing food items, which Kazeem was carrying.
Both Kazeem and Omoniyi immediately alerted the anti-narcotic officers that Mujidat who was still within the vicinity gave the bag containing the illicit substance to them at the airport. She was promptly arrested. The lady accepted responsibility and stated that she brought the luggage for the two passengers to give to her husband in Oman.
Mujidat, who hails from Oyo East LGA in Oyo State, confessed during preliminary interview that the bag containing the food items were packed by her with different items, including the black soap used to conceal the illicit substance.
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In Nasarawa state, NDLEA intercepted over 91 jumbo bags of cannabis, weighing 1,029.5kg concealed in a truck-mounted natural gas tank by Doma road, around 500 Housing Estate, Lafia. A 52-year-old suspect, Ernest Ojieh, was arrested in connection with the seizure on Saturday, July 9.
This was barely four days after operatives at Angwan Doka, Lafia, seized 38 big bags of the same substance with a total weight of 367kg. Two suspects: Abdullahi Iliyasu, 30, and Bashir Mohammed, 29 were arrested over the seizure.
In Kaduna and Adamawa, over half a million pills of pharmaceutical opioids were seized and suspects arrested in raid operations across the two states. In Kaduna alone, 294,400 pills of Tramadol and Diazepam were seized from Shaban Nasir, Aminu Usman and Shamsudeen Hussaini, along Abuja-Kaduna express road as well as Sa’idu Yahaya and Umar Abubakar, during a follow up operation in Kano, all on Friday 15th July.
In the same vein, over 227,000 different grades of Tramadol tablets were seized during the raid of a patent medicine store at Sabon Layi, close to Mubi main market, Mubi North LGA, Adamawa State on Sunday, July 3. Recovered from the store where a suspect, Nasiru Abubakar, 27, was arrested include Tramadol 250mg (aka Boko Haram); Royal Tramadol 225mg (aka Vectra); Tramaking Tramadol 225mg (aka Jan Dara); Tramadol 200mg (aka Dogari); and Tramadol 100mg(aka Green), among others. Another suspect, Idris Adamu, 25, was arrested in a shoe shop in the same Sabon Layi where over 5,000 tablets of Tramadol 225mg were recovered from him.
While commending the officers and men of the MMIA, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Adamawa Commands for the arrests, seizures and their dexterity, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) warned the drug cartels that no matter the ingenuity of their modes of concealment, the dedicated workforce of the Agency will always expose them and their tricks.
