Crime
NDLEA arrests grandma, pregnant woman, others for drug-related offences
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 60-year-old grandmother, a pregnant woman and others for drug-related offences.
The suspects were arrested during operations in which 5,527.15 kilogrammes of methamphetamine and Cannabis sativa, as well as 132,090 tablets of tramadol and 2,000 bottles of codeine, were recovered across five states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, in the past week.
A spokesperson for the Agency, Femi Babafemi, in a statement yesterday, said the grandma, Mrs Ibinosun Sandra Esther, was arrested in Ibadan, Oyo State in a follow-up operation, following the seizure of a 5.5kg Loud variant of cannabis imported into the country from South Africa.
The consignment, which she claimed was sent by her daughter was concealed in two giant speakers as part of a consolidated cargo that arrived at the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos at board an Airpeace Airline flight.
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In a related development, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, November 26, intercepted 1.4 kilogrammes of methamphetamine concealed inside custard tins packed that also have cosmetics and foodstuffs going to Brazil via Doha on a Qatar Airways flight.
A cargo agent, Salako Omolara Fausat, who brought the bag containing the illicit drug to the airport and an intending passenger to Brazil, Anyanwu Christian, who was to travel with the consignment, was promptly arrested.
Another attempt by a freight agent, Adebisi Aina Hafsat, to export 3,000 tablets of tramadol concealed in motor spare parts to Banjul, Gambia through the NAHCO export shed was equally thwarted by operatives who seized the consignment and arrested her on Monday, November 28, while a follow-up operation to Ebute Metta area of Lagos the following day, Tuesday, November 29, led to the arrest of the actual owner, Afam Chibuke Stanley, who is a spare parts seller.
This was followed by the seizure of 100,000 tablets of Royal brand of tramadol 200mg with a gross weight of 68.90 kilograms imported from Karachi, Pakistan on Ethiopian Airlines at the SAHCO import shed.
In Abuja, operatives stormed the warehouse of a notorious drug lord and an ex-convict, Ibrahim Momoh, alias ‘Ibrahim Bendel’, who escaped from prison custody to return to his criminal trade and recovered 81 jumbo bags of Cannabis sativa weighing 1,278kgs.
Though the fleeing drug dealer is still at large and is wanted by the Agency, his warehouse keeper, a 55-year-old Ghanaian, Richard Forson Gordon, was arrested.