The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested two Pakistani businessmen at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State 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 NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, made the disclosure via a statement made available to The Star on Sunday.
Babafemi noted that the two suspects, Asif Muhammed, aged 45 and 57-year-old Hussain Naveed, who hold Nigerian residence permits suspected to be fake, were frequent travelers to Nigeria under the guise of doing textile business.
He stated that Pakistani businessmen were arrested on Saturday at the Lagos airport barely a week after they came to Nigeria.
The NDLEA spokesperson added that the operatives of the anti-drug agency at the SAHCO import shed of the Lagos airport, on Friday, seized 13 cartons of Tramadol 225mg and 200mg imported from Karachi, Pakistan, noting that the consignment has a total weight of 465.10kg and 642,800 pills of the pharmaceutical opioid.
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Babafemi said NDLEA operatives at the NAHCO export shed of the Lagos airport, on Thursday, also intercepted a consignment of different illicit drugs which included Cannabis, Cocaine, and Methamphetamine as well as Tramadol 225mg and Rohyphnol concealed in footwears and soap packs going to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
He revealed that a 32-year-old woman, Oladitan Serah Olufunmilayo, who presented the consignment for export was arrested.
The NDLEA spokesman further stated that two businessmen who have been on the run for months over their involvement in drug trafficking have been arrested by anti-narcotic officers assigned to track them.
According to him, Nnebo Ikechukwu Christopher who has been wanted for his role in the importation of 40 cartons containing 346,800 pills of Co-codamol, a brand of paracetamol with codeine seized at the cargo wing of the Lagos local airport since March 2022, was arrested on Thursday.
Babafemi noted that the NDLEA operatives on the trail of an automobile parts dealer, Omeje Oliver, popularly known as David Mark, since April eventually arrested the suspect on Monday in Enugu where he fled to after abandoning his business at Aspanda, Trade Fair Complex Lagos.
The anti-drug agency spokesperson said the suspect was wanted in connection with the seizure of 600 grams of heroin concealed inside soles of lady’s footwears going to Liberia on April 16.
He stated that on the same day Oliver was arrested, the anti-narcotic operatives at the SAHCO export shed of the Lagos airport intercepted 550 grams of cannabis loud concealed in machine parts going to Dubai, adding that the sender, Ogbure Victor Ifeanyi, was later arrested.
While commending the anti-narcotic officers for the successful operations in the past week, the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), 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.
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