Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a Brazil returnee to Nigeria for allegedly importing 92 wraps of cocaine worth about $4,000 (about N2.8 million), through Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The drug had been ingested by the trafficker. It was eventually excreted after being kept under observation at the agency’s facility in Abuja.
The suspect, a father of two, Okolie Paulinus Nwabueke, 53, from Enugu State was arrested on Friday upon his arrival on a Qatar Airline flight en route Brazil-Doha-Abuja.
Director of Media & Advocacy for the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday said, Nwabueke, claimed to have left Nigeria for Mozambique in 2004 and later relocated to Brazil in 2017, where he obtained a residence permit before deciding to import the illicit substance for a $4,000 fee.
Also at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, no fewer than 1,099,000 tablets of Tramadol 225mg were seized through inter-agency collaboration between NDLEA and the Nigerian Customs Service.
The pharmaceutical opioids packed in 50 cartons weighing 2,058.90kg, were imported from Pakistan via Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airways. The consignment was concealed among other non-controlled pharmaceuticals.
Also, a freight agent, Aliyu Abubakar was on Friday, September 9 arrested at the NAHCO export shed of the airport over his attempt to export a consignment of cannabis concealed inside bottles of white body lotion.
Meanwhile, attempts by drug cartels to export 7.805 kg of crystal methamphetamine to the United States and Australia have been thwarted by NDLEA operatives attached to some courier companies in Lagos.
The meth consignments were concealed in the linings of local fabric, wooden statutes, printer cartridges, handle of travel bag and cassava flakes.
In the same vein, a 42-year-old man, Aliyu Bello Kwasare, has been arrested at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, for attempting to export a consignment of a new psychoactive substance, Akuskura, to Saudi Arabia.
“An indigene of Kware LGA, Sokoto, who lives in Goron Dutse area of Kano, was arrested on Monday, 5th September during an outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airline flight to Riyadh.
“From other parts of the country, a 25-year-old pregnant woman, Haruna Favour, was arrested in Auchi, Edo state on Friday 9th Sept with 82 pinches of methamphetamine as well as various quantities of Loud, Arizona, Colorado variants of cannabis and codeine-based cough syrup.
“In Gombe, 119,000 tablets and capsules of tramadol, D5 and Exol5 were recovered from two drug dealers, Nasiru Abubakar, 22, and Umaru Bayero a.k.a Hadiza when NDLEA operatives raided their stores at the Gombe main market on Tuesday 6th Sept.
“In Kogi, a suspect, Paul Ali, 47, was arrested along Okene-Abuja highway with 1,404 bottles of Codeine-based syrup weighing 190.94kg and 2,040 ampoules of pentazocine injection coming from Onitsha to Sokoto. A follow-up operation in Sokoto has also led to the arrest of the receiver of the consignment on Tuesday, 6th September.
“A raid at the cannabis plantation camp in Emure forest, Owo LGA, Ondo State has led to the arrest of Monday Onoja, 20; Daniel Kehinde, 25; and Obinna Okechukwu, 35, where 16 bags of the illicit substance weighing 179.5kg were seized from them,” he said.