….. Smashes 2 cocaine syndicates, nabs Chinese, Nigerian kingpins, 5 associates in Lagos; intercepts N4.3Billion worth of opioids at Onne, Tincan ports
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have arrested a 50-year-old businessman, Osuoha Christian Iheanacho, at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, AIIA, Enugu, for ingesting 90 wraps of cocaine.
According to a press release on Sunday, November 24, 2024, signed by the NDLEA Director of Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, Osuoha was intercepted on Wednesday, November 20, 2024, at the arrival hall of the Enugu airport during the inbound screening of passengers arriving from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on an Ethiopian Airlines flight following months of intelligence and surveillance on him. He was subsequently placed on excretion observation during which he ingested 90 pellets of cocaine weighing 2.019 kilograms in seven excretions.
Investigation reveals that the suspect, who operates a phone and accessories business in Lagos and Gabon, Central Africa, travelled by road from Gabon to Douala, Cameroon, from where he took a flight to Addis Ababa, where he swallowed the pellets of cocaine while in transit, and thereafter continued his journey to Enugu with Lagos as his final destination. He deliberately complicated his movement to distort traces of his travel history, unknown to him that he has been on the NDLEA watchlist for the past three months. In his statement, Osuoha said he desperately needed the money from the criminal drug trade to boost his declining phone and accessories business.
In another well-coordinated operation carried out by a Special Operations Unit of the Agency on Thursday, November 21st, the head of a cocaine distribution cartel, 42-year-old Ndive Maxwell Obinna, was arrested along with five of his associates at Ago Palace Way in Okota, Isolo, Lagos. A total of 2.412 kilograms of cocaine were recovered from them.
Other members of the drug trafficking organisation arrested along Obinna include Okeke Gloria Ifeoma, who is the syndicate’s stashkeeper; Ikechebelu Emmanuel Chibuzor; Okorie Onyedikachi; Okonkwo Nnabugo Prince; and Okafor Blessing Anita.
In a related development, another drug syndicate operated by a Chinese man, 58-year-old Tianzhen Yen (alias Jackie), has been dismantled by NDLEA operatives following his arrest at his hotel in the Ikeja area of Lagos. Officers of the Seme Special Area Command of the Agency had on Thursday, November 21st, intercepted a 40-year-old suspect, Yakubu Emmanuel Mark, in a commercial bus going to Ghana at the Gbaji checkpoint along the Badagry-Seme expressway based on credible intelligence.
When he was searched, a total of 750 grams of cocaine were found in his bag. A swift follow-up operation was organised to trace and arrest the kingpin behind the trans-border drug trafficking syndicate, who turned out to be a Chinese citizen, Tianzhen Yen. He was eventually traced to the MC Hotel behind Alade Market, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos. When his hotel room was searched, 4.3 grams of cocaine, a gram of methamphetamine, two electronic weighing scales, and a Chinese National Identification Number Card, among other exhibits, were recovered while he was arrested in the vicinity of the hotel.
At the Tincan seaport in Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted 92 parcels of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis with a combined weight of 23.25 kg concealed in two vehicles imported from Canada: a Nissan car and a GMC bus. The discovery was made during a joint examination of a container from Canada by NDLEA officers, men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and other stakeholders.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports complex, Onne, on Thursday, November 21st November intercepted two containers of imported opioids during a joint examination with men of the Customs Service and other security agencies. A total of 168,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth One Billion One Hundred and Seventy Six Million Naira (N1,176,000,000) only in street value, were recovered from one of the containers, while the second one contains Four Million Five Hundred Thousand (4,500,000) pills of super royal tramadol 225mg valued at Three Billion One Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N3,150,000,000) only, bringing the combined value of both the codeine and tramadol consignments to Four Billion Three Hundred and Twenty Six Million Naira (N4,326,000,000).
In Ekiti state, NDLEA operatives arrested a 50-year-old physically challenged woman, Mustapha Boja, with 286 grams of Colorado and Loud strains of cannabis at Araromi Street, Ikere-Ekiti, while 64kg of cannabis sativa was recovered at Akinyele Motor Park, Ibadan, Oyo State, on Thursday, November 21st.
Not less than 1,200.5 kilograms of the same psychoactive substance were seized during raids by NDLEA officers in parts of Edo State. At Utese Forest in Ovia North East LGA, 463.5 kg were recovered on Thursday, November 21st, while 507kg were seized at a compound in Owan Village, Ovia LGA, where the duo of David Ojo Ederin, 60, and Afoje Frank, 24, were arrested on Friday, November 22nd. Another suspect, Godwin Okhoya, 40, was nabbed with 230 kg of the same substance at Okpuje, Owan West LGA.
In Kano, four suspects: Usman Sani, 25; Abdul Mohd, 28; Bunu Ali, 27; and Umar Musa, 30, were arrested on Tuesday, November 19th, by NDLEA operatives at Gadar Tamburawa, Zaria-Kano Road, with 100 blocks of cannabis weighing 45kg, while Ayuba Umar Zaranda, 55, was nabbed with 124 kg of cannabis at Pengana village, Toro LGA, Bauchi state.
With the same vigour, commands and formations of the agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) and sensitisation activities to schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities, among others, in the past week. These include the WADA enlightenment lecture to students and staff of Sardauna Academy, Malumfashi, Katsina State; Community Secondary School, Ede-Oballa, Nsukka, Enugu State; Government Secondary School, Riji, Kano State; Government Secondary School, Ogba, Ahoada East LGA, Rivers State; and the youths and community leaders of Ilawe Ekiti, Ekiti State, among others.
While commending the officers and men of AIIA, SIU, Tincan, Onne, Seme, Ekiti, Oyo, Kano, Bauchi, and Edo Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), stated that their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country, especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts, are well appreciated.
