NDLEA arrests wanted kingpin, Chadian, others over London-bound shipment

•Raids Mushin, five states; recovers 99,867 pills of opioids

A drug kingpin, wanted for attempting to ship illicit drug consignments to the United Kingdom, tops the list of arrests made by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) through interdiction operations that led to the seizure of four tons of illicit substances in the past week.

The suspect, Obiorah Chigozie Samuel, has been on the wanted list of the agency since September 16, when a consignment of 1.500kg skunk, concealed in flour and going to London, was intercepted at the Skyway Aviation handling company (SAHCO) export section of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos. His freight agent, Nworah Adaugo Precious was arrested.

Apparently thinking that the 1.500kg consignment had sailed through, Obiorah walked into the agency’s dragnet on Thursday, September 28, when he personally brought another tranche of 2.00kg concealed in cartons to the airport for shipment to the UK. Obiorah claimed he was selling shoes in Lagos before venturing into the illicit drug business.

Meanwhile, operatives of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command of the agency, last Friday, intercepted a container truck with registration number BD G41 XM, coming from Lagos to Kano at the Gwagwalada area of the FCT.

About 1,188 kilogrammes of skunk loaded at Owo, Ondo State, and hidden under cartons of toothpaste were recovered from the truck, while its driver, Amafan Fattison, was arrested.

In the same vein, NDLEA officers in Bayelsa State, last Wednesday, seized 432kg of same substance from an abandoned J5 bus, along Saipem road, Opolo, Yenagoa. The vehicle was equally recovered from the scene for further investigation.

In Kano, a grandfather, Ado Mai Unguwa, 70, was arrested on Saturday with 143.2kgs skunk in Dindere village, Tofa Local Council, while operatives in Enugu, same day, recovered 110.6kgs of same substance from a locked-up shop at Aria new market.

Operatives in Lagos also on Saturday, September 30, stormed the notorious Idi-Oro drug enclave in Mushin, where they seized 212.5kgs of cannabis sativa belonging to a wanted drug lord.

This is even as NDLEA officers in Kwara State, recovered 104kgs of skunk from a Toyota Camry car in Offa area of the state, while a Chadian, Mohammed Ibrahim, 25, was nabbed at Mafa check point, Borno State, with 11.8kgs of same substance on Monday, September 25.

In Plateau, the state police command in the spirit of inter-agency collaboration, transferred four suspects: Yusuf Akim; Frank Gah; Jackson Ejeh and Joseph Utsu, and 1,978kgs cannabis recovered from them to the state command of NDLEA, while in Cross River, operatives last Monday, seized 40,000 ampules of pentazocine injection from two suspects: Fajulugbe Adeshola Temitayo and Nnaorji Agwe Solomon, at Mobil, by MCC road, Calabar.

Also, in Kogi State, NDLEA officers on Wednesday, September 27, arrested a suspect, Ifeanyi Odoh, with 59,867 pills of opioids, including tramadol and 4.03kgs cannabis sativa at Idah area of the state.