Attempt by a 29-year-old South African, Erasmus Jean Pierre, to export 2.6 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed in his luggage to the Middle East through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA Abuja last Wednesday was thwarted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, who arrested him and recovered the illicit drug.


According to NDLEA Director Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the suspect was intercepted by NDLEA operatives during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 404 from Abuja to the Middle East via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In Babafemi’s news statement, thorough search of Pierre’s luggage led to the discovery of the whitish powdery illicit substance factory packed in different parts of the bag.


The statement disclosed that Preliminary investigation reveals that the suspect arrived Lagos through Abidjan, Côte dIvoire 19th August, came to Abuja 22nd August, and took possession of the brown bag containing the drug consignment 23rd August before heading to the Abuja airport for his flight out of Nigeria.


Meanwhile, NDLEA officers in Gombe state on patrol along Darazo road last Monday recovered an abandoned Volkswagen Sharon vehicle marked GME 76 XD containing a total of 373,420 pills of opioids including tramadol and diazepam.


In the same vein, operatives in Ogun state last Wednesday raided the home of a drug dealer, Ifeanyi Orji in Ibafo area of the state where 81,000 tablets of tramadol 225mg weighing 32.4kgs were recovered.
In Adamawa state, NDLEA operatives last Tuesday recovered 60,000 pills of tramadol from a suspect, Ibrahim Abba, 25, who was travelling in a commercial Toyota Starlet car from Kalaa village to Mubi.


Equally, in Abuja the Federal Capital Territory, operatives intercepted two consignments of skunk with a gross weight of 1, 242.1 kilograms. The first consignment of 665.1kgs was seized from a truck around Area 3 20th August while the second one weighing 577kgs was recovered during a stop and search operation along Lokoja- Abaji expressway same day.


The consignment was concealed in Jumia goods delivery packs inside a container Mercedes truck, whose driver, Yusuf Yakubu Asokomhe, and his assistant, Tunde Ogundare, were arrested.


In Kwara state, operatives on patrol along along Jebba – Minna road last Tuesday, intercepted a commercial truck conveying goods from Lagos to Katsina with 37.5kgs of cannabis sativa hidden among other items, the driver, Abdulazeez Usman and his assistant, Halidu Musa were arrested for further investigation.
Similarly, In Yobe state, NDLEA operatives last Wednesday intercepted an ash colour Sharon Galaxy vehicle marked AKK 484 XA along Potiskum-Gombe road coming from Baissa, Kurmi local government area of Taraba state. Three suspects in the vehicle: Ya’u Yahuza, 30; Yahaya Muhd, 29, and Tanimu Salisu, 20, were arrested with 133 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 62kgs.
Operatives in Edo last Thursday stormed the Uzebba forest in Owan West local government area of the state, where they arrested Esazobor Ohioze, 33, with 54.3kgs cannabis recovered from a hut while a total of 2.995696 hectares of cannabis farms were destroyed.
Efforts by transnational drug cartels to move a consignment of 117 grams of ketamine neatly concealed in a pair of leather male slippers being shipped to Indonesia and 2.14 kilograms of skunk clinically hidden in the walls of a local wooden drum, were equally frustrated by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, attached to courier firms in Lagos.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, retired Brigadier General Buba Marwa commended the efforts of the officers and men of the NAIA, Gombe, Ogun, Adamawa, FCT, Kwara, Yobe, Edo Commands and those of DOGI for a job well done in the past week.
He charged them and their colleagues across the country to intensify their drug supply reduction operations and equally balance that with drug demand reduction activities.