2 Pakistani businessmen, blind Nigerien, son arrested for cocaine hidden in PAS, skunk trafficking

Eagle-eyed operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos, have arrested two Pakistani businessmen with 8 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a public address system while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Lahole, Pakistan via Doha.

The two suspects: Asif Muhammed, 45 and Hussain Naveed, 57, both of who hold Nigerian residence permits suspected to be fake, are frequent travelers to Nigeria under the guise of doing textile business.

According to a statement by Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director, Media & Advocacy, the two suspects were arrested on Saturday 5th November at the Lagos airport barely a week after they arrived Nigeria on Sunday 30th October.

In another operation, operatives on patrol at Malumfashi-Zaria road in Katsina State arrested a blind man, Bukar Haruna, 52, and his son Saka Haruna, 30 while heading to Niger republic with 20.5kg cannabis and 10 grams of exol-5. They hail from Damagram area of Niger republic.

Babafemi added: “Operatives at the SAHCO import shed of the airport on Friday 4th November seized 13 cartons of Tramadol 225mg and 200mg imported from Karachi, Pakistan. The consignment has a total weight of 465.10kg and 642,800 pills of the pharmaceutical opioid.

“The previous day, Thursday 3rd Nov, operatives at the NAHCO export shed of the airport also intercepted a consignment of different illicit drugs: Cannabis, Cocaine and Methamphetamine as well as Tramadol 225mg and Rohyphnol concealed in footwears and soap packs going to UAE, Dubai. A 32-year-old Oladitan Serah Olufunmilayo who presented the consignment for export was arrested.

“No less than 2, 685.5kgs of cannabis were recovered in four different operations conducted in parts of Edo state in the last week. While 53 bags of C/S weighing 742.5kgs were seized on Wednesday 2nd Nov at a camp in Esioriri, Owan East LGA with four suspects: Chukueke Igba, 32; Solomon Peter, 34; Emmanuel Jeremiah, 36 and Happiness Chidi, 37 arrested, another raid in the house of Joy Zubaru, 45, led to her arrest with 30.5kgs of cannabis recovered.

“In the same vein, operatives on Thursday 3rd Nov stormed the Egbeta forest in Ovia North East where they recovered 112 bags of cannabis and 8 bags of seeds with a combined weight of 1,598.5kgs, while another team evacuated 27 bags of same substance weighing 314kgs at Amahor village in Igueben LGA.

“In Mubi area of Adamawa, operatives on Tuesday 1st Nov. intercepted a Toyota Corolla car transporting 9,600 pills of tramadol. A follow-up operation later led to the arrest of the owner of the consignment, Mamuda Ramadan, (a.k.a Muller), while another suspect, Alhassan Muhammed, was arrested on Sunday 30th Oct. along Abuja-Kaduna express road, with 136,000 pills of tramadol concealed inside his car’s spare tyre.

Meanwhile, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), CON, OFR, commended the officers and men of the MMIA, Edo, Katsina, Adamawa, and Kaduna Commands of the Agency for the successful operations in the past week. He urged them and their counterparts across the country not to rest on their oars until all drug syndicates operating in Nigeria are completely dismantled and the last gram of illicit substance taken out of the streets.