Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested an automobile spare parts dealer, Ejiofor Nnaemeka Chiwuzie, for attempting to export consignments of heroin and Loud, a strain of cannabis.
The agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement that Ejiofor was arrested on Tuesday, September 24, at the Trade Fair Complex in the Ojo area of Lagos.
This followed the seizure of his cargo, which contained auto parts, rechargeable lamps, sofa metal legs, and electronics destined for Liberia, at the Lagos airport’s export shed.
Concealed inside the LED lamps and sofa legs were 37 parcels of heroin weighing 1.10kg and four blocks of loud weighing 1.20kg.
A swift follow-up operation led to the arrest of two freight agents and Ejiofor, who sent the consignment.
In the same vein, Babafemi also said that attempts by drug trafficking networks to export consignments of Loud, tramadol pills, co-codamol tablets, pentazocine injection, dihydrocodeine and promethazine tabs through some courier companies to the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Thailand and Oman were foiled by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operation and General Investigation (DOGI), attached to the logistics firms.
While 2.3kg of Loud hidden in a carton was going to Thailand, 749gm of tramadol concealed in the soles of locally made footwear were heading to Oman, with 60 ampoules of pentazocine injection going to the United States.
The Guardian learnt that about 200 pills of co-codamol were meant for Australia, while a total of 700 tablets of dihydrocodeine, promethazine and tramadol, as well as 20 ampoules of pentazocine injection concealed in the soles of footwear, were heading to the United Kingdom.
Going to Canada were 58 ampoules of pentazocine injection hidden in female clothing All the seizures in the courier houses were made in Lagos between Monday and Tuesday, September 23 and 24.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, September 25, arrested a wanted drug kingpin, Ajiboye Damilare Samuel (also known as “Na God”), after 12 months on the run.
His arrest followed a raid on his warehouse in the Akala, Mushin area of Lagos on September 4, 2023, where a total of 1,101kg of Ghana Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, was recovered.
Ajiboye’s arrest at a bank in Ogun State resulted from well-coordinated efforts by the Agency’s Directorate of Assets and Financial Investigation, which traced and blocked 20 bank accounts linked to him.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives in Lagos apprehended Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Talba, a wanted community leader and Sarkin Yamma of Badagry on Friday, September 27.
This followed the arrest of his two wives, Hauwa and Asma’u, and his son, Sadat, as well as the seizure of a total of 226.2kg of cannabis at their homes in Badagry on September 18.
In another operation in Lagos, at least 9.7kg of Cannabis sativa and 50 litres of “monkey tail,” a fermented concoction of cannabis and dry gin, was recovered from a suspect, Florence Moses, in the Badore area of Ajah, Lekki, on Tuesday, September 24.
