30 suspects grilled as NDLEA seizes N4.4billion worth cocaine at Lagos airport

“The drug consignments worth Four Billion Four Hundred and Ninety-Two Million Eight Hundred Thousand Naira (N4,492,800,000) in street value were recovered from two lavatories of an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft during the post-landing cleaning of the cabin of flight ET900 from Addis Ababa to Lagos on Tuesday 29th October 2024,” NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy Femi Babafemi said in a Sunday statement.

Babafemi said the consignments were “wrapped in nine polythene bags and hidden in the waste collectors in the two rear lavatories of the aircraft, from where they were recovered after the MMIA Strategic Command of NDLEA was alerted about the strange objects.

“No fewer than 30 suspects have so far been grilled in connection with the seizure.”

The seized drugs were conveyed from Brazil to Ethiopia through ingestion and excreted in Addis Ababa by a set of couriers while some other traffickers picked them up and attempted to smuggle them into Nigeria through the Lagos airport before their attempt was frustrated with the cooperation of the airline’s authorities and other airport stakeholders, the agency said.

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Similarly, the NDLEA said “efforts by some drug trafficking syndicates to export 2.928kg cocaine, cannabis, and tramadol 225mg concealed in body cream containers, and pieces of artwork to Australia, the United Arab Emirate, and the United Kingdom through some courier companies in Lagos were also blocked by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, on Monday 28th October.

“At the Apapa seaport in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday 29th October intercepted 754, 000 pills of tapentadol and acetaminophen 225mg worth Five Hundred and Twenty-Five Million Naira (N525, 000,000) in a targeted and watch-listed container from India during a joint examination with men of Customs Service and other security agencies.

“In the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, a suspect Mujahid Hamisu, 24, was arrested with 147,000 pills of tramadol concealed in black nylon bags containing plumbing materials along Kwali-Gwagwalada Abuja expressway on his way from Onitsha, Anambra state on Saturday 2nd November 2024, while another suspect Seun Abimbola, 47, was nabbed by NDLEA operatives same day with 512 grams of methamphetamine during a raid operation at Giri junction area of the FCT.”

In Kogi State, NDLEA officers on patrol along the Kabba-Obajana highway arrested Mercy Ameh, 28, in a commercial bus traveling from Lagos to Abuja. A search of her luggage led to the recovery of fake Naira notes worth Four Million, Three Hundred and Fifty-Three Thousand, Two Hundred Naira (₦4,353,200). Another suspect, Shaibu Dahiru, 27, was nabbed in a vehicle coming from Lagos to Katsina along the Lokoja-Okene-Abuja road on Thursday, October 30, with 68 blocks of cannabis weighing 27.400 kg.

A notorious drug dealer, Usman Abba (alias Timaya), who has been on the watchlist of the Katsina State command of NDLEA, was arrested on Wednesday, October 30, at Liberty Hotel, Kofar Kaura, with consignments of Arizona, a strain of cannabis. On the same day, NDLEA operatives in Adamawa arrested a suspect, Augustine Dike, 31, with 50.3 grams of methamphetamine at Quarisa Hotel, Jimeta.

In Taraba, operatives on Friday, November 1, arrested Danlami Fakwa, 46, at Sabon Gari, Jalingo LGA, with 49.795 kg of cannabis, while a total of 561 kg of the same substance was recovered from a Sienna bus at Ogbese village in Ondo State on Monday, October 28.

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A suspect, Kabiru Yusuf, 25, was arrested on Saturday, November 2, in possession of 51,813 pills of tramadol and exol 5 at NDA Bus Stop, Kaduna, just as raids in Edo State led to the seizure of 603.6 kg of cannabis at Farm Road, Ekiadolor, and 308.4 kg of the same substance at Uroe community.

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