NDLEA intercepts 24, 311kgs heroin, codeine at Lagos Airport, Tincan Seaport

… Seizes drugged cookies, others in Abuja, Edo, Kaduna, Taraba, Kwara, Gombe

Coming on the heels of the successful interception of N6 billion worth of Amphetamine, known on the streets as jihadists’ drug, at the Apapa port in Lagos by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Agency has recorded another landmark success with the seizure of over 24, 311 kilograms of heroin, codeine.

Other drugs seized include Arizona and Colorado variants of cannabis in fresh drug busts at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja and the Tincan seaport, Apapa, Lagos State.

Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director of Media & Advocacy, in a press statement on Sunday, said that the first seizure came on Friday 3rd September, 2021 at the SAHCO export shed of the MMIA where two consignments containing 10.350kg heroin and 25.2kg cannabis from South Africa were intercepted.

In other series of sting operations between Saturday 4th Sept and Monday 6th Sept, in different parts of Lagos, four suspects were arrested, including one Mrs. Bello Kafayat Ayo, who was picked from Shyllon Street, in the Palm Groove area of the state.

At the Tincan seaport, Apapa, narcotic officers intercepted a 40ft container loaded with 22,590 kilograms of Barcadin Codeine syrup on Monday 6th Sept following intelligence received from international partners on the container since May 2021. The container was also found to include 4,020.03kg of analgesic tablets and 47 cartons of insulated hot pots used to conceal the illicit drugs, all imported from India. Equally, on Friday 10th Sept, a consignment of Colorado weighing 17.5kg and hidden inside a Grand Caravan Dodge vehicle shipped in a 40ft container from Montreal, Canada, was also intercepted and seized at the Tincan port.

Similarly, a 20-year-old graduate, Miss Bee Okoro was arrested in Abuja for producing and selling drugged candies and cookies. A 27-year-old dispatch rider, Idewo Raimi who handles door-to-door delivery for her was also arrested.

The suspects, who were arrested at Garki Area 11 on Friday 10th Sept, with a number of their drugged products and 400grams of Loud and Arizona, confessed they have been in the drug business for over a year.

In Edo state, a total of 1,425.2 kilograms of compressed blocks of cannabis sativa were seized in a raid on Aviosi outskirt, close to Uzebba, Owan west LGA, on Monday 6th Sept, while on the same day one Yahaya Mamman was nabbed along Zaria-Danja road, Kaduna with 10.3kg Tramadol and 60.5kg Exol-6. The previous day, Thursday 5th Sept, one ThankGod Danladi was arrested at Tudun Wada area of Jalingo, the Taraba state capital with 44.2kg of cannabis.

In the same vein, NDLEA operatives in Kwara state on Tuesday 7th Sept, arrested a 36-year-old lady, Yusuf Sherifat who recently completed a jail sentence following her conviction by a Federal High Court in Ilorin for dealing in 22 grams of crack cocaine. Her latest arrest along Specialist Hospital Road, Alagbado, Ilorin, followed intelligence that she has resumed sale of crack cocaine in Ilorin metropolis. This time around, she devised another means of delivering drugs along the road to known customers who contact her via telephone calls.

In Gombe state, raids across the state between Wednesday 1st Sept and Friday 10th Sept led to the arrest of at least nine drug dealers from who assorted illicit drugs weighing over 150kg were recovered. One of such was the interception of a DAF truck loaded with 128kg of psychotropic substances coming from Onitsha, Anambra state along Gombe-Yola road.

Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), commended the commanders, officers and men of the commands for their resilience and bravery. He said the series of arrests and seizures across the country further affirm NDLEA’s zero tolerance for production, trafficking and abuse of any illicit substance, warning that drug dealers who are yet to have a change of heart must be ready to contend with the new NDLEA.