A Vietnam-bound businessman, Paul Okwuy Mbadugha has been arrested by operatives of the NDLEA, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja after he tested positive to ingestion of cocaine.
By Emma Ogbuehi
A Vietnam-bound businessman, Paul Okwuy Mbadugha has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja after he tested positive to ingestion of cocaine.
According to a release by NDLEA Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the 54-year-old suspect was intercepted at the boarding gate of the Abuja airport on Monday, August 12, 2024 during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam via Doha. After four days under excretion observation, Mbadugha egested a total of 88 wraps of the illicit drug with a gross weight of 1.710 kilograms.
In his statement, he claimed he was a Lagos based businessman and was given the cocaine pellets to swallow by a friend at Isolo area of the state for onward delivery in Vietnam for a fee of $2,000.
In the same vein, NDLEA officers at the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos have intercepted a shipment of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 800 grams concealed in noodles going to Congo. A follow up operation at the Alaba International market, Ojo area of Lagos led to the arrest of the sender of the consignment, Nnamani Sunday Sunny, who deals in GSM handsets.
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Meanwhile, a large consignment of Loud imported from Canada have been recovered by NDLEA operatives at the Lagos airport. A suspect, Desalu Taophic Temitope, who arrived on board an Air France flight with six boxes was arrested by anti-narcotic officers during a joint examination by security agencies at the arrival hall.
A total of 65.80 kilograms of the psychoactive substance were recovered from four of the six suitcases. In his statement, Desalu said he and an accomplice currently at large were promised $10,000 upon successful delivery of the shipment in Lagos.
Elsewhere, no less than Eight Hundred and Ninety-Two Thousand Four Hundred (892,400) bottles of codeine-based syrup worth Six Billion Two Hundred and Forty-Six Million Eight Hundred Thousand Naira (N6,246,800,000.00) in street value were recovered from five containers by NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers state during a joint examination of the containers with men of the Nigeria Customs and other port stakeholders on Wednesday, 14 and Thursday, August 15, 2024. The bottles of the opioid were packed in 5,337 cartons with a gross weight of 133,860 kilograms and shipped in five containers from India.
In Ekiti State, NDLEA operatives supported by men of the Nigerian Army and other security agencies as well as community youths on Wednesday, August 14, raided the Ise forest reserve, Saalaja camp, Ise-Ekiti, where 21,800 kilograms of cannabis sativa on 20 hectares of farm land were destroyed.
The following day, Thursday, August 15, NDLEA officers on patrol along Onitsha- Enugu road in Enugu intercepted a Sienna bus marked SKA-24 AG from which 200.2kg of cannabis was recovered and the driver, Okoro Emmanuel, 41, arrested.
While the duo of Joseph Apeh, 45, and Diamond Nnabuike, 21, were arrested with 145,400 pills of tramadol on Monday, August 12, at Gadar Tamburawa, area of Kano, NDLEA operatives in Ogun state on Tuesday, August 13, arrested 70-year-old Fidelis Egede and three others: Samuel Sylvanus, 31; Jato Samson, 33; and Francis Blessing, 28, when a cannabis plantation on six hectares was raided at Alaka village.
In Abuja, NDLEA officers on patrol along Kwali-Gwagwalada expressway on Tuesday, August 13, intercepted a truck from which 30,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection were recovered and three suspects: Ifeanyi Sunday, Jeremiah Paul and Edet Ubokobong arrested.
While operatives in Niger state on Thursday, August 15, arrested Ifeanyi Chukwueze in Kontagora town with 28, 500 pills of tramadol concealed in a loudspeaker, their counterparts in Kogi state on Wednesday, August 14, nabbed Abba Yakubu with 40,000 pills of the same opioid heading to Kontagora.
Another suspect, Tochukwu Onah, 39, was arrested by NDLEA officers at Paparanda, Lokoja on Thursday, August 15, with 1,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection.
Across the country, NDLEA Commands continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitization lectures and advocacy visits to worship centres, schools, workplaces, palaces of traditional rulers and communities all through the week. Instances include: WADA sensitization lecture to students of College of Nursing Science, Awgu, Enugu state; traditional rulers in Umuahia North, Abia state; WADA advocacy visit to the Olowo of Owo, Oba Ajibade Gbadegesin Ogunleye 111, Ondo state; and WADA advocacy visit to the Dein of Agbor, Dr. Benjamin Ikenchukwu Keagborekuzi 1, Delta state, among others.
While commending the officers and men of the NAIA, MMIA, PHPC, FCT, Kogi, Ogun, Ekiti, Kano, Enugu and Niger Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) also applauded their compatriots in all the commands across the country for intensifying the WADA sensitization lectures and advocacy messages to every part of their areas of responsibility.