Village head, 10 others arrested for drug-related offences

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested the village head of Gidan Abba in the Bodinga Local Government area of Sokoto State, Abubakar Ibrahim.

He was among the 11 suspects arrested in interdiction operations in which 991,320 pills of pharmaceutical opioids and 1,251 kilogrammes cannabis and khat, as well as 46.637 kilogrammes of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin were recovered by operatives of the NDLEA across seven states.

According to the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, October 26, intercepted a total of 15 cartons containing 802,000 pills of tramadol imported from Dubai, UAE and Karachi, Pakistan.

He said while 10 cartons of tramadol 225mg came in from Dubai on Ethiopian Airlines flight, four cartons of 100mg and a carton of 225mg tramadol came from Karachi, Pakistan on another Ethiopian Airlines flight.

“On the same day, operatives at the SAHCO export shed (MMIA) intercepted cans of tomato paste going to the United Kingdom. A thorough search of the consignment revealed that the tomato cans were used to conceal 36 pellets of cannabis with a gross weight of 21.30 kilograms while a cargo agent, Sodehinde Akinwale was arrested in connection with the seizure,” a statement by Babafemi added.

The NDLEA spokesman stated further that two days after, on October 28, operatives attached to the NAHCO import shed of the Lagos airport seized five cartons of dried khat leaves, weighing 107.70kgs that came in from Bangkok, Thailand through Dubai on an Emirates Airline flight.

“A follow up operation on the seizure of 11.90kgs Meth concealed in the heads of dried fish going to Dubai, UAE on August 5 led to the arrest of a 30-year-old bricklayer, Babatunde Mamowora in the Sango Ota area of Ogun state in collaboration with men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps.

“In the same vein, a 27-year-old Madu Miracle was arrested at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, on arrival from Nairobi, Kenya via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A search of his three bags revealed 76 foreign bathing soaps made with cocaine in one of the bags while another has two plastic bottles containing cream-like liquid, which tested positive to cocaine. The cocaine bars weigh 10.650 kilograms while the liquid cocaine weighs 2.496 kilograms, bringing the total weight to 13.146 kilograms,” he added.