Three Nigerian sexagenarian grandfathers and a Nigerien topped the list of suspects arrested in the past one week over illegal illicit drugs.
The suspects included Balogun Akinlabi Abideen (63); Butven Siman (62); Musa Shuaib (65) and 21-year-old Bashar Abdu from the Republic of Niger.
They were arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), along with two courier companies, in connection with the seizure of over 52.252 kilograms of cocaine, methamphetamine, skunk as well as 32, 590 pills of opioids in Lagos, Kwara, Plateau, Sokoto states.
This was as the anti-narcotics agency intercepted Europe-bound opioids, meth concealed in picture frames, soap packs at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA).
The arrests and seizures were contained in a press release by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
“A suspect, Onyebi Benjamin Chimaobi who frequents Cameroun, Ethiopia, Uganda and said to be on NDLEA’s watchlist, was arrested penultimate Saturday at Victory Estate, Iba, Ojo area of Lagos.
“He was arrested in connection with the seizure of a 19.70kgs cocaine abandoned on an Ethiopian Airline flight that arrived Lagos Airport, on Thursday, 9 February.
“Chimaobi had travelled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to pick the consignment, which he claimed was handed over to him in a black backpack bag on the plane in Addis Ababa but failed to disembark with it on arrival in Lagos,” Babafemi stated.
He added that agency continued to investigate the flight crew members, deploying relevant intelligence and investigative tools to identify the passenger who brought the consignment to Nigeria.
Babafemi stated that the effort eventually paid off as “Chimaobi was eventually unraveled and traced to Victory Estate, Iba where he was arrested.”
In the same vein, operatives, last Thursday, intercepted an intending passenger, Obazee Tothy Eguagie, on Turkish Airline flight to Torino via Milan, Italy at the Departure Hall of the Lagos Airport.
The NDLEA Director of Media added that found on Eguagie were various quantities of opioids concealed inside cloths and wrapped with black tapes.
This, he said, consisted of 22, 840 tablets of tramadol 225mg weighing 10.60 kg; 1000 tablets of tramadol 200mg with a gross weight of 600 grams; 2, 300 capsules of tramadol 100mg, weighing 800 grams and 60 tablets of rohypnol 1mg, weighing 19 grams.
“The following day, Friday, 24 February, NDLEA operatives attached to the NAHCO Import Shed of the airport intercepted eight cartons of shoes coming from Los Angeles, United States of America.
“A diligent examination of the cargo however showed that the shoes were used to conceal a total of 37 parcels of loud variant of cannabis with a gross weight of 20.10 kilograms.
“A 63-year-old grandfather, Balogun Akinlabi Abideen, hired as freight agent, to clear the illicit consignment has already been arrested.
“One of the two other sexagenarians, Butven Siman (62), was nabbed with 5.5kgs skunk on Friday, 17 February at Timbol Village, Langtang South Local Government Area of Plateau State.
“The third one, 65-year-old Musa Shuaib, was arrested with a kilogram of cannabis last Thursday, 23 February in Adewole area of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital,” Babafemi stated.
He disclosed that a total of 4.393 kilograms of psychoactive drugs were recovered from two major courier companies in Lagos by officers of the NDLEA Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) attached to the logistics firms.
The psychoactive drugs included methamphetamine, tramadol, lexaton, and swindon and were concealed in walls of cartons, picture frames, bathing soap packs and bedsheets going to the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.
In Sokoto State, NDLEA operatives at the Illela Land Border, last Tuesday, intercepted a Nigerien, Bashar Abdu (21) of Kwanni, Niger Republic with 1.460kgs of skunk wrapped round his private part.
In Kaduna, a suspect, Mohammed Garba (a.k.a Alfazazi), was arrested with 6,390 tablets of Tramadol 225mg, weighing 3.4kgs, last Thursday, along Abuja-Kaduna Express Road.
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), has commended the officers and men of MMIA, DOGI, Plateau, Sokoto, Kaduna and Kwara commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures.
He noted that their efforts and those of their compatriots across the country have, in no small measure, reduced access to and availability of illicit substances in Nigerian communities.
The NDLEA boss charged them and other officers and men of the anti-narcotics agency across the country to remain vigilant at all times.
