The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has arrested a 63-year-old Chinese grandma following her attempt to smuggle a large consignment of suspected Canadian loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis into Nigeria.
The Director of Media and Advocacy at the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi made this known in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Mr Babafemi said the Chinese national who naturalised in Malaysia, was arrested on May 17, upon her arrival in Nigeria from Thailand via Dubai, UAE, aboard an Emirates Airline flight.
He said that the suspect was intercepted by NDLEA operatives attached to the Terminal 2 Arrival Hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
He also said that investigations revealed that the suspect travelled from Malaysia to Thailand and subsequently to Nigeria via the UAE with two large travel boxes containing the synthetic suspected cannabis consignment weighing 31.0kg.
According to Mr Babafemi, during an interview, the 63-year-old suspect, who claims she works as a caregiver in Malaysia, said that her daughter sponsored her trip from Malaysia to Thailand and subsequently to Nigeria.
“She also said that she spent two weeks in Thailand, before she was handed the illicit consignment at the Thailand airport to deliver in Nigeria.”
Mr Babafemi also said that another major shipment of illicit drug consignment was recovered at the import shed of the Lagos airport.
He said that the interception followed close monitoring of the consignment by NDLEA operatives since its arrival from India aboard an Emirates cargo flight.
He revealed that the 29 large cartons containing 1,825,710 tablets of suspected Tapentadol 250mg, worth N2.1 billion were eventually handed over to the NDLEA by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on May 22.
He added that in another successful interdiction operation, NDLEA operatives at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu on May 20, intercepted another suspect.
He said this was during the inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight from Sierra Leone via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“When placed under observation, the suspect excreted a total of 185.36 Grammes of substance suspected to be cocaine,” he said.
He also said that at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, a 29-year-old building engineer was on May 21, arrested by NDLEA operatives, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Abuja via Addis Ababa to Milan Malpensa, Italy.
The NDLEA director of media and advocacy said that a search conducted on his luggage, led to the recovery of 10,280 suspected pills of Tramaking 225mg; Tramadol 200mg and Tapentadol 250mg.
He said that the substances were concealed using foil paper and hidden inside a carton, in a suitcase, obviously to evade detection.
He added that in yet another operation at a courier company in Lagos, NDLEA operatives, intercepted 1,174 suspected pills of MDMA (Ecstasy) concealed in bicycle luggage carrier heading to Netherlands.
“We also recovered 66 pills of substance suspected to be tramadol 225mg hidden in soap container going to the United States, and 18 tablets of substance suspected to be tramadol 225mg concealed in body cream container heading to the United Kingdom.
“In Edo, NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence raided Igwe community in Owan East LGA, where a total of 59 jumbo bags of substance suspected to be skunk weighing 489kg and cannabis seeds weighing 9kg were recovered.
“Another suspect was nabbed with 196,000 pills of substance suspected to be exol-5 on May 20, along Zaria/Kano road, Kano State.
“NDLEA officers at Seme border, Badagry area of Lagos also recovered 59kg of substance suspected to be skunk from a warehouse in Mowo, Badagry on May 17,” he said.
Mr Babafemi further said that another operational success was recorded in Ekiti State, where NDLEA operatives on Saturday, raided a warehouse located at No 56, Ikoyi community, Ikole-Ekiti and recovered 1,116kg of substance suspected to be skunk.
He added that a 54-year-old suspect, was arrested in connection with the seizure.
He said that commands and formations of the agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others within the week under review.
Mr Babafemi quoted the NDLEA Chairman, retired, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, as commending the officers and men of MMIA, NAIA, AIIA, Edo, Ekiti, Seme, and Kano commands as well as those of DOGI for the arrests and seizures.
Mr Marwa noted their drug supply reduction efforts balanced with WADA sensitisation activities.
He charged all NDLEA personnel across the country to continue to raise the operational bar.
(NAN)
