PUNCH
No fewer than 14,481,519 pills of tramadol and bottles of codeine syrup worth over N13bn in street value have been recovered by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in three major busts of drug cartels operating in Amuwo Odofin, Idumota and the SAHCO shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos State.
The anti-narcotics agency noted that the three intelligence-led operations began with the raid of House 8/10 Hon. Wahuha Avenue, Divine Estate, Ago Palace area of Amuwo Odofin on Sunday, October 29, where 490,000 pills of tramadol and 81,519 bottles of codeine syrup measuring 4, 510, 000mls were recovered.
In a similar operation on Tuesday, October 31, the NDLEA operatives swooped on a secret warehouse operated by a billionaire Idumota trader, Nwaoha Anayo, located at Onitire, Aguda area of Surulere where 12,700,000pills of tramadol were recovered.
In the same vein, at least six members of a syndicate using their official cover to facilitate the smuggling of illicit drugs through the Skyway Aviation Handling Company warehouse at the Lagos airport into the country have been arrested and 1,210,000 pills of tramadol seized from them in a painstaking operation that lasted for weeks.
The spokesperson for the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, revealed the developments in a statement obtained by our correspondent on Sunday.
Babafemi noted that six suspects – Oladele Sanya-Olu; Lawal Itunu Temitope; Sanamo Daniel; Udeh Monday; Musa Mutalib and Unege Icibor, in relation to the illegal drug trade through SAHCO, were already in the NDLEA custody, while three other suspects – Sarki Salami; Abdullahi Aliyu (aka Aboki); and Monday Anwal, were now on the run and wanted by the NDLEA.
At the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, the NDLEA operatives on Sunday, October 29, intercepted another businessman, 50-year-old Nwokolo Ifeanyi, during the outward clearance of Air France flight AF 878 to Amsterdam, the Netherlands via Paris, France at the boarding gate and was body scanned.
Babafemi revealed that the result turned out to be positive for illicit drug ingestion.
He noted, “The suspect who travelled from Lagos to board the flight was subsequently kept under observation for some days during which he excreted a total of 86 pellets of heroin weighing 1.330kilograms.
“Similarly, NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, attached to courier firms on Monday, October 30, intercepted 22 parcels of cocaine concealed in the walls of a carton containing sewn local fabrics popularly called Aso Oke, heading to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,”
Meanwhile, the NDLEA operatives have arrested three blind men operating an illicit drug ring between Lagos and Kano, while another blind member of the syndicate is still at large.
The lid was blown off the group following the arrest of a blind suspect, Adamu Hassan, 40, along the Gwagwalada Expressway, Abuja with 12kgs of skunk on his way from Lagos to Kano on Saturday, October 28.
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