NDLEA intercepts China, Italy-bound cocaine concealed in mortar, backpack

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has intercepted consignments of cocaine concealed in a local mortar and the false bottom of a backpack intended for shipment to China and Italy through a logistics company in Lagos.

The agency also arrested a suspected notorious drug dealer in Rivers State and a suspected supplier of illicit drugs to bandits in Zamfara State during separate operations.

The Director of Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

According to him, operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations, DOGI, made the seizures on Thursday.

He said officers recovered 250 grams of cocaine factory-fitted into the base of a local mortar packaged in a carton for export to China, while another 500 grams of cocaine was hidden in the false bottom of a backpack destined for Italy.

In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested a 38-year-old suspect, Ugo Gift Okonkwo, at Eagle Island, Port Harcourt, following intelligence reports.

The suspect was apprehended with quantities of cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine, swinol, tramadol and codeine syrup during the operation conducted on July 26.

In Anambra State, NDLEA officers on stop-and-search duty at the DMGS Roundabout in Onitsha intercepted a truck marked XK 131 BDG loaded with 26,000 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 3,960 kilograms. The truck driver, Chinedu Nwanze, 40, was arrested.

Similarly, operatives recovered 331.84 kilograms of skunk from a Toyota Sienna bus with registration number KUJ 26 DV along the Kwale-Ughelli Expressway in Delta State.

In Nasarawa State, officers arrested a 64-year-old suspect, Joseph Nwaeke, with 68 kilograms of skunk and 29 grams of methamphetamine at Asso Angwan Muazu in the Karu area on July 28.

In Zamfara State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Zaria-Gusau highway intercepted a 27-year-old suspect, Sani Umar, with 7,400 tablets of tramadol (225mg) suspected to be supplies for criminal elements.

Babafemi added that the agency also sustained its War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitisation campaign across schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities nationwide.

The awareness activities included lectures for students and staff of Hausawa Special Primary School in Kano, Royal Crown School in Oluyole, Ibadan, Government Secondary School in Ibi, Taraba State, and commercial drivers at Challenge Bus Terminal Park in Ibadan.

NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations as well as the Rivers, Anambra, Delta, Nasarawa and Zamfara Commands for the successful operations.

He urged them to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts across the country.