The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted a combined haul of cocaine, cannabis and opioids worth an estimated N10 billion at Lagos ports and courier facilities in different operations within a single week. NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi disclosed the operations in a statement on Sunday, July 26, covering seizures and arrests conducted between July 19 and July 24 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, the Apapa seaport, courier firms and various locations across Lagos, Katsina, Edo and other states. The week’s operations combined intelligence-led airport and seaport interdictions with the unravelling of an organised cocaine export syndicate, yielding some of the largest single seizures recorded by the agency in recent months.
What NDLEA is saying The NDLEA said operatives made the week’s single largest seizure by value on Monday, July 20 at the Apapa seaport. “A container of three vehicles used to conceal a total number of 4,777 sachets of Canadian Loud weighing 2,388.5kg worth over N7.1 billion in street value was uncovered during a joint examination of the shipment,” the statement read. Another significant single seizure of the week came at the Lagos airport on Friday, July 24, where a joint cargo examination based on processed intelligence uncovered a pharmaceutical drug haul of extraordinary scale.
NDLEA operatives recovered 2,240,000,000 pills of Tapentadol 250mg from a shipment arriving from India aboard an Air Maroc flight. “A total of Two Million Two Hundred and Forty (2,240,000,000) pills of Tapentadol 250mg worth over N2.2 billion in street value were recovered from a shipment from India aboard an Air Maroc flight during a joint examination of the cargo,” the statement said.
The Tapentadol seizure came alongside a separate interception at a Lagos courier firm on Wednesday, July 22, where operatives intercepted “a consignment of tramadol buried in containers of black soap heading to the UK.”
NDLEA also busted a cocaine syndicate led by a 55-year-old kingpin, Onuigbo Ndubisi Chinedu. Onuigbo’s arrest was the product of a chain of intelligence-led arrests that began at the airport export shed on Wednesday, July 22. Three cargo agents, Nkwor Onyekachukwu Justina, Adeleke Abiola Taoheed and Ukanwa Grace Pilgrim, were initially arrested after handling a 3.30 kilogram cocaine consignment concealed in the walls of cartons of foodstuffs heading to the UK, leading investigators to Kenneth Okakpu, who had delivered the drugs to the agents. “Okakpu’s arrest provided the lead to identifying Onuigbo as the kingpin behind the syndicate,” the statement said, with operatives subsequently catching him while attempting to send another cocaine consignment to the UK.
The agency also arrested 31-year-old entrepreneur Emmanuella Chukwu-Edo at her Surulere residence on Tuesday, July 21. She was arrested “following the seizure of her consignment of 2.80kg Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, which arrived from the United States aboard a United Airlines flight on Monday 20th July,” the agency said. More insights Beyond Lagos, NDLEA recorded several additional enforcement actions across other states during the same period. In Katsina State, Mustapha Sani, 30, was arrested at Baure in Safana Local Government Area on Wednesday, July 22, found with 323 rounds of military-grade ammunition comprising 200 pieces of 7.62mm and 123 rounds of 7.6mm rounds “neatly concealed,” according to the statement. A second suspect, Abubakar Amadu, 30, was arrested along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway with 73 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition hidden in kegs of red oil.
Both suspects were handed over to relevant security agencies. In Edo State, raid operations at Ilushi community in Esan South East Local Government Area on Sunday, July 19, produced 1,286 kilograms of cannabis and 86 kilograms of cannabis seeds from a warehouse, while Ojore Onweze, 45, was caught with 60 kilograms of skunk and George Agwumede, 30, was nabbed with 13 kilograms of the same substance. What you should know The latest seizures add to a series of intensified anti-drug operations by the NDLEA. Earlier this month, Nairametrics reported that the NDLEA declared an alleged methamphetamine kingpin, Nnamuka Kelvin Uchenna, also known as Odogwu wanted. Three of his associates were also declared wanted following the discovery of a clandestine drug laboratory in Imo State, while securing court orders to freeze nearly N9.84 billion linked to the syndicate. The agency stated that it had also obtained interim forfeiture orders covering a filling station, multi-storey buildings and four sport utility vehicles (SUVs) allegedly connected to the criminal network.
