NDLEA arrests businessman, ex-convict with large consignment of cocaine, others
Attempt by an import and export businessman, Olisaka Chibuzo Calistus to smuggle 256 wraps of cocaine weighing 6 kilograms into the country through the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, MAKIA, Kano, has been thwarted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
The seizure, which is the single largest interception of cocaine at the Kano airport since 2006, was made on Sunday 15th December 2024 during the inward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines from Abidjan.
Olisaka who claims to be into import and export business was subjected to body screening during which he was found to have packed hundreds of cocaine pellets in his body.
A similar attempt by an ex-convict, Olanrewaju Bada Akorede to export a consignment of rohypnol to South Africa through Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, was frustrated by NDLEA officers.
The consignment was hidden in a cargo containing gari, shoes, men’s singlets and other items.
Olarenwaju was convicted for a similar crime earlier this year following his arrest on 12th December 2023 for attempting to ship 4.90kg tramadol and 2.10kg rohypnol to South Africa through the export shed of the Lagos airport.
He was sentenced to two years imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Lagos with an option to pay a fine of N900, 000, which he paid and was freed before returning to repeat the same crime.
Also, an Italy-based businesswoman Cynthia Akaeen was arrested on Wednesday while trying to board a Royal Air Maroc flight to Italy via Addis Ababa.
The suspect was intercepted at the departure point of terminal 2 of the Lagos airport during an outward clearance of passengers going to Italy.
A total of 9,190 tablets of various brands of tramadol weighing 6.00kg were recovered from her. According to her, she was promised 1,000 Euros upon successful delivery of the consignment in Italy.
No fewer than 418,330 pills of tramadol 225mg, 100mg and tapentadol 250mg as well as 8,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were recovered from a warehouse at a building material market in Onitsha on 17th December when NDLEA operatives raided the market following credible intelligence.
Similarly, at the Tincan Island port in Lagos, 180,000 bottles codeine syrup were recovered on 18th December from a container, which originated from Mundra, India.
The seizure was made during a joint examination of the container by men of NDLEA, Customs, DSS, police, and other security agencies at the port, while a suspect Makata Emmanuel, who is the consignee and notify party, was promptly taken into custody.
Meanwhile, the NDLEA has recovered 293,000 capsules of tramadol, a pistol and 26 rounds of 7.65mm live ammunition from the duo of Ishaya Wabba, 54, and Samaila Audu, 44, when they were arrested in a Toyota Sienna bus at Pompomari Bypass, Maiduguri, Borno state.
Another suspect, Sanusi Abdul Hamid, 37, was nabbed at Gwange area of Maiduguri with 260, 000 capsules of tramadol the same psychoactive substance on Monday 16th December, while 35-year-old Modu Kolera was arrested on Wednesday
at Custom area of Maiduguri with 8.5kg cannabis; 5,000 pills of tramadol; 7,500
diazepam; 14,500 tablets of exol and 50 litres of ‘suck and die’, a new psychoactive substance, in his Volkswagen Golf car marked DKW 812 AA.
In Oyo state, one Gafar Saminu, 30, was arrested on Wednesday 18th December with 33.5 kilograms of cannabis sativa, at Ayete, whike in Enugu NDLEA operatives raided the Aria new market where they recovered 94kg of the same substance.
In Lagos, a consignment of 32 kilograms ephedrine, a precursor chemical going to the South East was on 16th December recovered at the Young Shall Grow Luxurious Vehicles Park, Maza-maza.
