The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have foiled attempts by drug syndicates to export large consignments of cocaine, methamphetamine, and opioids hidden in melon and yam flour, among others, through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in the Ikeja area of Lagos State and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja to the United Kingdom, Italy, Turkey, and Qatar.

The NDLEA operatives also arrested the suspected masterminds behind the moves to export the illicit drugs.

The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, November 17, 2024.

Babafemi revealed that 13 parcels of cocaine weighing 4.40kg cocaine going to the United Kingdom via Frankfurt on a Lufthansa Airlines flight were intercepted by NDLEA officers at the export shed of the Lagos airport on November 5, adding that a businessman linked to the consignment, Ekeocha Anayo Nelson, was tracked and arrested on November 8.

He noted that a bid by another businessman, Adegbite Solomon (aka Obama), to export 7,800 pills of tramadol, 180 tablets of Rohypnol, and 60 bottles of codeine to Italy was also foiled at the departure hall of the Lagos airport on Monday, November 11, when the anti-narcotic officers arrested him after recovering the opioids concealed in food and other items while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Italy.

Babafemi said the businessman claimed to have travelled to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea and earned a living as a street beggar before delving into a logistics business.

NDLEA seizes UK-bound drugs hidden in tiger nuts, cartons of noodles

The NDLEA spokesman noted that another businessman, Anoke Kingsley Roomy, was arrested with 1,100 pills of tramadol 225mg hidden in his luggage while attempting to board his Ethiopian Airlines flight going to Istanbul in Turkey at the terminal 1 of the Lagos airport on Friday, November 15.

He said the NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) and their counterparts from the FCT Command of the agency, on Friday, November 15, raided a hotel room at the Federal Housing Authority Estate in the Lugbe area of Abuja, where they arrested two suspects, 36-year-old Omeh Uchenna Jude and 34-year-old Anene Valentine Chigozie.

Babafemi said 1.8kg of methamphetamine, which the suspects were preparing to travel with to Qatar, was recovered from them.

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