By Emeka Ugwuanyi
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a South African man for attempting to export methamphetamine at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja.
The 29-year-old South African, Erasmus Jean Pierre, concealed 2.6 kilograms of methamphetamine in his luggage which was headed to the Middle East on Wednesday.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by NDLEA’s Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, he was thwarted by NDLEA operatives during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 404 from Abuja to the Middle East via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The illicit drug was recovered after a thorough search of his luggage and he was subsequently arrested.
“Preliminary investigation reveals that the suspect arrived Lagos through Abidjan, Côte dIvoire on Saturday 19th August, came to Abuja on Tuesday 22nd August, and took possession of the brown bag containing the drug consignment on Wednesday 23rd August before heading to the Abuja airport for his flight out of Nigeria.
“Meanwhile, NDLEA officers in Gombe state on patrol along Darazo road on Monday 21st August recovered an abandoned Volkswagen Sharon vehicle marked GME 76 XD containing a total of 373,420 pills of opioids including tramadol and diazepam. In the same vein, operatives in Ogun state on Wednesday 23rd August raided the home of a drug dealer, Ifeanyi Orji in Ibafo area of the state where 81,000 tablets of tramadol 225mg weighing 32.4kgs were recovered.
“In Adamawa state, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday 22nd August recovered 60,000 pills of tramadol from a suspect, Ibrahim Abba, 25, who was travelling in a commercial Toyota Starlet car from Kalaa village to Mubi. Equally, in Abuja the Federal Capital Territory, operatives intercepted two consignments of skunk with a gross weight of 1, 242.1 kilograms. The first consignment of 665.1kgs was seized from a truck around Area 3 on Sunday 20th August while the second one weighing 577kgs was recovered during a stop and search operation along Lokoja- Abaji expressway same day. The consignment was concealed in Jumia goods delivery packs inside a container Mercedes truck, whose driver, Yusuf Yakubu Asokomhe, and his assistant, Tunde Ogundare, were arrested.
“In Kwara State, operatives on patrol along Jebba – Minna Road on Tuesday 22nd August, intercepted a commercial truck conveying goods from Lagos to Katsina with 37.5kgs of cannabis sativa hidden among other items. The driver, Abdulazeez Usman, and his assistant, Halidu Musa, were arrested for further investigation.
Similarly, In Yobe state, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday 23rd August intercepted an ash colour Sharon Galaxy vehicle marked AKK 484 XA along Potiskum-Gombe Road coming from Baissa, Kurmi local government area of Taraba state. Three suspects in the vehicle: Ya’u Yahuza, 30; Yahaya Muhd, 29, and Tanimu Salisu, 20, were arrested with 133 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 62kgs.
“Operatives in Edo on Thursday 24th August stormed the Uzebba forest in Owan West local government area of the state, where they arrested Esazobor Ohioze, 33, with 54.3kgs cannabis recovered from a hut while a total of 2.995696 hectares of cannabis farms were destroyed.”
NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) attached to courier firms in Lagos halted transnational drug cartels from moving a consignment of 117 grams of ketamine neatly concealed in a pair of leather male slippers being shipped to Indonesia and 2.14 kilograms of skunk clinically hidden in the walls of a local wooden drum.
