NDLEA arrests man who ‘excreted 90 pellets of cocaine’, seizes N4.3bn worth of opioids in Rivers port

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has seized two containers of opioids imported into the country, with an estimated street value of N4.3 billion.

In a statement on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said the containers were intercepted at the Port Harcourt Ports complex, Onne, Rivers on Thursday during a joint examination with officers from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other security agencies.

“A total of 168,000 bottles of codeine based syrup worth One Billion One Hundred and Seventy Six Million Naira (N1,176,000,000) only in street value, were recovered from one of the containers,” the statement reads.

“The second one contains Four Million Five Hundred Thousand (4,500,000) pills of super royal tramadol 225mg valued at Three Billion One Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N3,150,000,000) only, bringing the combined value of both the codeine and tramadol consignments to Four Billion Three Hundred and Twenty Six Million Naira (N4,326,000,000) only.”

He added that 64 kilograms of cannabis sativa were also recovered at Akinyele Motor Park, Ibadan, Oyo State, on the same day.

According to the statement, not less than 1,200.5 kilograms of the same psychoactive substances were seized during raids by NDLEA officers in parts of Edo State on Thursday.

“At Utese forest in Ovia North East LGA, 463.5kg was recovered on Thursday 21^st November; while 507kg was seized at a compound in Owan village, Ovia LGA where the duo of David Ojo Ederin, 60, and Afoje Frank, 24, were arrested on Friday 22^nd November,” the spokesperson said.

“Another suspect, Godwin Okhoya, 40, was nabbed with 230kg of same substance at Okpuje, Owan West LGA.”

“In Kano, four suspects: Usman Sani, 25; Abdul Mohd, 28;  Bunu Ali,27; and Umar Musa, 30, were on Tuesday 19^th November arrested by NDLEA operatives at Gadar Tamburawa, Zaria- Kano road, with 100 blocks of cannabis weighing 45kg.”

In Bauchi State, he said another suspect, Ayuba Umar, aged 55, was nabbed with 124 kilograms of cannabis at Pengana Village, Toro LGA on Tuesday.

He also mentioned several operations carried out by the agency in November across the country and the locations where arrests were made.

“At the Tincan seaport in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Friday 22^nd November intercepted 92 parcels of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis with a combined weight of 23.25kg concealed in two vehicles imported from Canada: a Nissan car and a GMC bus,” he said.

“The discovery was made during a joint examination of a container from Canada by NDLEA officers, men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other stakeholders.”

‘MAN INGESTS 90 WRAPS OF COCAINE’

Babafemi said NDLEA operatives arrested a 50-year-old businessman named Osuoha Iheanacho who allegedly ingested 90 wraps of cocaine at the arrival hall of Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu, on Wednesday.

According to the spokesman, Iheanacho, who had been under surveillance for three months, was going through inbound passenger screening upon arrival from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on an Ethiopian Airlines flight when he was apprehended.

“He was subsequently placed on excretion observation during which he egested 90 pellets of cocaine weighing 2.019 kilograms in seven excretions.” Babafemi said.

“Investigation reveals that the suspect who operates phone and accessories business in Lagos and Gabon, Central Africa, travelled by road from Gabon to Douala, Cameroon from where he took a flight to Addis Ababa where he swallowed the pellets of cocaine while in transit and thereafter continued his journey to Enugu with Lagos as his final destination.

“He deliberately complicated his movement to distort traces of his travel history unknown to him that he has been on NDLEA watchlist for the past three months.”

Iheanacho reportedly said he desperately needed the proceeds from the criminal drug trade to revive his declining phone and accessories business.

He added that Tianzhen Yen (Jackie), a 58-year-old Chinese man was also arrested, and his drug syndicate dismantled following his apprehension at a hotel in Ikeja, Lagos.