Eagle-eyed operatives of the National Drug Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, on Sunday, 29th October, intercepted one 50-year-old Nwokolo Ifeanyi Anthony at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja, during the outward clearance of Air France flight AF 878 to Amsterdam, Netherlands, via Paris, France.
Anthony, who claimed to be a businessman, was nabbed at the boarding gate and was body scanned, while the result turned out to be positive for illicit drug ingestion.
According to Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, the suspect who travelled from Lagos to board the flight was subsequently kept under observation for some days, during which he excreted a total of 86 pellets of heroin weighing 1.330 kilograms.
The NDLEA’s spokesperson said other interceptions and seizures made by the agency, include: “Similarly, NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, attached to courier firms on Monday 30th October intercepted 22 parcels of cocaine concealed in the walls of a carton containing sewn local fabrics popularly called Aso Oke, heading to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“While operatives in Osun on Saturday 4th November stormed the Obada sawmill forest in Owena-Ijesa, Oriade LGA where they arrested a suspect, Monday Sylvester, 37, on a 6.01 hectares of cannabis farm which was destroyed and 489.8kgs already processed plant recovered, their colleagues in Edo raided a trans-loading point inside Avbiosi forest, Owan West LGA where 603 kilograms of the illicit substance were seized.
“Also, NDLEA officers in Ogun state on Friday, 3rd November, recovered a Toyota Sienna bus from a ditch at Ajebo Area, along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. A search of the vehicle led to the seizure of 460kgs of the same substance, while a total of 116.5kgs of cannabis sativa belonging to a suspect at large were seized at Olagunju, Mushin area of Lagos.
Reacting to the development, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) commended the officers and men of the NAIA, MMIA, Lagos, Osun, Edo and FCT Commands as well as those of DOGI, for the arrests and seizures of the past week.
Marwa charged them and their compatriots across the country to remain focused as the Agency expands its operations against drug cartels.
