NDLEA arrests pregnant woman, other three over drug trafficking

Mrs. Sylvester Gloria Onome, a pregnant woman who was arrested at the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) on January 30, 2023, after 800 grams of skunk were found hidden in two miniature radio sets she was shipping to Dubai, United Arab Emirate, has been paraded by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

On the same day, agents also stopped a shipment headed for Congo Kinshasa that contained 111 bottles of body lotion that were hiding 24.50 kg of ephedrine, a substance that is used to make methamphetamine. After the first detention of two freight brokers, the shipment was subsequently found to be with trader Onyekachukwu Uduekwelu at the Alaba trade fair complex in the Ojo neighborhood of Lagos.

Sani Isah, a 40-year-old secondary school teacher, was also displayed by the agency. He was detained on January 2, 2023, for dealing in Akuskura, a brand-new psychoactive substance, at a home in the Jekadefari neighborhood of Gombe. He was found to have 2,198 bottles of the drug hidden in six suitcases, and he claimed to have started the illegal enterprise in 2018.

On Friday, January 27, 2023, Okpara Chizoba Victoria, a housewife, was detained at her home in the Ijesha neighborhood of Lagos after 300 grams of skunk were found concealed in a bag of crayfish that she was delivering via a freight agent to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

On January 26, 2023, agents at the SAHCO export facility stopped a shipment of brand-new clothing headed for Sierra Leone. One kilogram of methamphetamine, 300 grams of skunk, and 100 grams of ecstasy (MDMA) were discovered during the search of the consignment. Mfonabasi Victor Joseph, a freight agent, was detained in relation to the seizure.

Attempts by drug cartels to export large quantities of illegal drugs, particularly cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and ephedrine via the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos, have once again been thwarted by NDLEA agents, who intercepted the shipments and detained those responsible.

Iwuozor Edward Chinedu, a Nigerian living in Athens, Greece, is at the top of the list of persons so far detained in connection with the seizures, according to Femi Babafemi, director of media and advocacy at the NDLEA. He disclosed that the suspect was taken from an Ethiopian Airlines flight on Friday, February 2, 2023 as a result of two bags being seized by NDLEA personnel on the tarmac during a secondary check operation at the aircraft's base.

On each of the two sides of one of the bags, there were two large pellets wrapped in foil paper and some peppercorns. The pellets were employed to create fictitious walls along the bag's sides.

The two packages each contained narcotics with a gross weight of 900 grams and 1.30 kilograms that tested positive for cocaine and heroin, respectively. Chinedu stated during the initial interview that he traveled to Nigeria three months prior to perform a procedure that he felt uneasy performing in Athens. He added that he received the suitcase in exchange for a N2 million payment to convey it to Greece.

Tramadol and diazepam pills totaling no less than 255,500 pills were found on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Milan, Italy, where the suspect, Duru Josephat, was travelling. Josephat concealed the drugs in two of the bags he was carrying. He admitted that he had purchased the pills in Onitsha, Anambra state, and was transporting them to Italy for resale.

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