NDLEA Arrests Drug Suspect, Intercepts Four Tons Of Illicit Drugs In Five States
A suspected drug kingpin, Obiorah Chigozie Samuel, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for attempting to ship illicit drug consignments to the United Kingdom.
NDLEA also disclosed that it recovered over four tons of illicit drugs in the past week from five different states.
In a statement released by the agency on its official Facebook page Sunday, Samuel has been on the wanted list since September 15, 2023, after a "consignment of 1.500kg skunk concealed in flour going to London, UK was intercepted at the SAHCO export shed of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos, and his freight agent, Nworah Adaugo Precious arrested."
"Convinced that the 1.500kg consignment had sailed through, Obiorah walked into the Agency's dragnet on Thursday, September 28, when he brought another tranche of 2.00kg concealed in cartons to the airport for shipment to the UK.
"In his interview, Obiorah claimed he was into shoe sales in Lagos before venturing into the illicit drug business.
"Meanwhile, operatives of the Federal Capital Territory Command of the Agency on Friday, September 29, intercepted a container truck with registration number BD G41 XM from Lagos to Kano at the Gwagwalada area of the FCT.
"No less than 1,188 kilograms of skunk loaded at Owo, Ondo state and hidden under cartons of toothpaste were recovered from the truck and its driver, Amafan Fattison, 28, was arrested.
"In the same vein, NDLEA officers in Bayelsa state on Wednesday, September 27, seized 432kgs of the same substance from an abandoned J5 bus along Saipem road, Opolo, Yenagoa. The vehicle was equally recovered from the scene for further investigation.
"In Kano, a septuagenarian grandpa, Ado Mai Unguwa, 70, was arrested on Saturday, September 30, with 143.2kgs skunk in Dindere village, Tofa LGA, while operatives in Enugu same day recovered 110.6kgs of same substance from a locked-up shop at Aria new market.
"Operatives in Lagos also on Saturday 30th, September stormed the notorious Idi-Oro drug enclave in Mushin where they seized 212.5kgs of cannabis sativa belonging to a wanted drug lord.
"This is even as NDLEA officers in Kwara state recovered 104kgs of skunk from a Toyota Camry car in the Offa area of the state, while a Chadian, Mohammed Ibrahim, 25, was nabbed at Mafa checkpoint, Borno state, with 11.8kgs of same substance on Monday, September 25.
"In Plateau, the state police command, in the spirit of inter-agency collaboration, transferred four suspects, Yusuf Akim; Frank Gah, Jackson Ejeh and Joseph Utsu, and 1,978kgs cannabis recovered from them to the state command of NDLEA, while in Cross River, operatives on Monday, September 25 seized 40,000 ampules of pentazocine injection from two suspects: Fajulugbe Adeshola Temitayo, 35, and Nnaorji Agwe Solomon, 54, at Mobil by MCC road, Calabar.
"Also in Kogi state, NDLEA officers on Wednesday, September 27, arrested a suspect, Ifeanyi Odoh, 25, with 59,867 pills of opioids, including Tramadol and 4.03kgs cannabis sativa, at Idah area of the state," the statement read.
Punch Nigeria Ltd