Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested two individuals, an Ibadan-based businesswoman named Adewunmi Dorcas, and Arinze Ora, an auto parts dealer, for attempting to export consignments of narcotics to London and Congo Brazzaville.
The NDLEA, in its continued effort to curb drug trafficking, intercepted both shipments at the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
The first bust occurred on Friday, September 6, 2024, when NDLEA officers intercepted a cargo bound for the United Kingdom.
According to a statement released on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, the agency’s spokesperson, the officers conducted a detailed search of the shipment and uncovered 924 bottles of codeine-based syrup, weighing 135.70 kilograms, alongside 5,250 tablets of Rohypnol, cleverly hidden in cartons of foodstuffs.
“The freight agent, Owojori Olanrewaju Sunday, who presented the cargo for export, was promptly arrested,” Babafemi revealed. Following further investigation, another suspect, Adewunmi Akeem Temitope, was apprehended.
The disclosed that his mother, Mrs. Adewunmi Adebola Dorcas, aged 58, had sent the consignment from Ibadan for delivery to the freight agent. This led to a follow-up operation on Saturday, September 7, which resulted in Mrs. Adewunmi’s arrest in Ibadan, where she operates a foodstuff and cargo export business.
In his confession, the agent Owojori admitted to working for Mrs. Adewunmi on numerous occasions to export goods to the UK.
He further revealed that he received a payment of N2,411,000 for this specific job and had previously been paid N2.1 million for a similar consignment from the same businesswoman.
In a related case, Babafemi stated that on September 11, NDLEA operatives at the same airport’s export shed intercepted another consignment, this time heading to Congo Brazzaville via Ethiopian Airlines.
A detailed search of the cargo, which was declared as auto spare parts and Checker powder custard, uncovered 300 grams of cocaine concealed within the containers of the custard.
A follow-up investigation led to the arrest of Arinze Ora, the individual behind the shipment. Ora, a dealer in auto parts, operates from Shop 12, Block 7, Aspanda Trade Fair Auto Parts Wing, in the Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos.
The agency’s operations didn’t stop there. Babafemi also reported the arrest of two brothers, Ikechukwu Ikeabba and Ugochukwu Ikeabba, on September 10. The brothers were identified as sponsors of drug traffickers specializing in smuggling drugs by ingestion to Vietnam.
Their capture followed an extensive investigation into the earlier arrest of an Onitsha-based businessman, Ibeanusi Solomon Nosike, who had excreted 68 wraps of cocaine, weighing 1.282 kilograms, over 12 days.
Nosike was apprehended at the domestic terminal of the Lagos airport on August 8, 2024, while attempting to board a flight to Abuja, from where he planned to connect to a Qatar Airways flight heading to Vietnam.
Additionally, the brothers were connected to another individual, 54-year-old Paul Mbadugha, who was arrested on August 12 at the Abuja airport during the outward clearance of a Qatar Airways flight to Hanoi.
Mbadugha tested positive for cocaine ingestion and, after four days of being held under observation, excreted 88 wraps of cocaine with a gross weight of 1.710 kilograms.
“At the time of the arrest of the two kingpins, the Ikeabba brothers, they were caught with 87 wraps of cocaine dummies used in training intending swallowers,” Babafemi added.
In Gombe State, the NDLEA seized a DAF truck traveling along Bauchi-Gombe Road, uncovering 2,490,000 Tramadol pills hidden within bags of salt.
The operation, carried out on September 14, resulted in the arrest of three individuals: Auwal Abdullahi, Isah Rabiu, and Abubakar Da’u.
Elsewhere, in Kaduna State, operatives apprehended Idris Adamu with 41.5 kilograms of cannabis sativa in Kachia town on September 10. Two additional suspects, Godiya Jikuk and Yusuf Umaru, were arrested in Ekiti State on September 11, caught with 73.6 kilograms of cannabis.
In a separate raid in Bauchi State on September 13, NDLEA officers arrested Chinedu Asadu with 208,920 pills of Tramadol and Diazepam. Just days earlier, on September 10, two suspects, Abba Abdullahi and Mustapha Yahaya, were apprehended along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway with 104 kilograms of cannabis.
Meanwhile, NDLEA officials at Tincan Port in Lagos discovered a significant drug cache during a joint operation with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.
The agents found 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup in two containers shipped from India, marking a significant bust in the agency’s ongoing war against drug trafficking.
