A cocaine trafficking cartel headed by a couple, Bolanle Lookman Dauda and Olayinka Toheebat Dauda, has been smashed in Lagos and Ogun States by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), with multi-billion naira worth of the illicit drug recovered.

The illicit drug was recovered in two operations following the arrest of the couple in one of the intelligence-led raids by the NDLEA officers.

The duo were arrested by the operatives of a special operation unit in NDLEA with the support of the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States at Ibiye, along the Lagos-Badagry expressway while attempting to cross the land border to deliver the consignment in Ghana on Saturday, May 25, 2024.

NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, May 28, said 42 blocks of cocaine weighing 47.5 kilograms were found on the couple.

Babafemi said a swift follow-up operation in the couple’s residence at Plot 24/25 OPIC extension, Petedo Road in the Agbara area of Ogun State led to the recovery of an additional eight blocks of the same drug weighing 10kg, bringing the total weight of the cocaine seized from the couple to 57.5 kilograms.

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He added that the NDLEA operatives, in another raid, recovered 1,100 ampoules of lethal synthetic opioid, fentanyl, weighing 6.48kg from a member of a drug trafficking syndicate, 34-year-old Ikeh Stanley Ifeanyi at the popular Idumota market in Lagos Island.

He revealed that 790 ampoules of the dangerous opioid weighing 5.273kg were equally seized from another member of the fentanyl syndicate, 48-year-old Chieze Ogechukwu Benjamin, who was also arrested at Idumota market.

“Fentanyl, a lethal synthetic opioid, which is 100 times more potent than heroin is currently responsible for over 70 per cent overdose deaths as well as a major contributor to fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the United States,” Babafemi noted.

The NDLEA spokesman stated that two suspects – Olayiwola Aremu Kazeem, 37, and Ogunfowora Taofik Ajibola, 35 – were arrested on Lagos Island in a different raid by the anti-narcotic officers with 432 grams of methamphetamine recovered from them.

He said the NDLEA operatives at the Tincan port in Lagos, on Saturday, May 25, intercepted 15 parcels of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing 7.5kg and concealed in the doors and body crevices of a Toyota Highlander SUV in a container.

Babafemi noted that the container contained three units of used vehicles, including the Toyota Highlander originated from Toronto and shipped to Nigeria via Montreal, Canada.

Babafemi added that a swift follow-up operation led to the arrest of two suspects, Sunday Sodade and Oriyomi Adesina, who were to receive the vehicle and the drug consignment.

He said a bribe of N6 million offered to NDLEA officers by the sender of the container based in Canada through his agent has also been registered as an exhibit for the prosecution of the case.

The Star