A sizable shipment of cocaine that was hidden in the heads of imported dry stock fish headed for India was discovered by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) agents.
According to a statement released on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, said that the illegal material was taken from a gang that distributes the shipment to several countries, particularly India.
According to NDLEA, information about the drug syndicate’s transnational illegal activity led to their dismantling.
“A search of the bags led to the recovery of Two Hundred and Thirty-Seven (237) wraps of cocaine buried in the heads of imported dry stock fish known locally as “Okporoko,”” the statement stated. The total weight of the cocaine pellets is 5.80 kg. The shipment was meant to be exported to Delhi, India.
On Wednesday, March 25, NDLEA agents from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) in Lagos conducted another operation in which they stopped two illegal shipments that were being sent to the UK at a courier service.
1.9 kilograms of methamphetamine were discovered hidden in car filters in one cargo that came from Cotonou, Benin Republic; the other package contained 40 ampoules of morphine sulphate and nine ampoules of fentanyl.
The statement further revealed that on Thursday, March 26, agents of the Agency’s Special Operations Unit conducted a significant interdiction operation at the home of 46-year-old Omolade Abigail Jolayemi, the head of a known drug syndicate, at 13 Carter Street in Yaba, Lagos.
“We arrested her and her sales girl, Sarah Zainab Agbabiaka, 31,” the statement emphasized. They were found to have 135 blocks of Ghana Loud, a variety of cannabis weighing 76.30 kg. Omolade, also known as Iya Ghana, operates a drug distribution network between Ghana and Nigeria under the guise of a local fabric trader.
Additionally, on Thursday, March 26, NDLEA agents detained Oke Samuel, an 80-year-old grandfather, during a special raid operation at Mosafuneto Camp, Erinmo Road, Efon-Alaaye, Ekiti State.
“A total of 2.2 kg of skunk and 1.8 grams of methamphetamine were recovered from him, while 894.72 kg of the same psychoactive substance was seized from another suspect, Enuwa Kehinde Kingsley, 37, when an unfinished building was raided by NDLEA officers at Ogbese, in Akure North area of Ondo state, on the same day,” the NDLEA agents reported. On Tuesday, March 24, a raid operation in Pevi village, Guma LGA, Benue state, yielded at least 116.7 kg of skunk from a suspect, Saater Nyam, 35. Meanwhile, on Monday, March 23, NDLEA agents in Edo state discovered a warehouse in Ekpoma town, Esan West LGA, which resulted in the arrest of a suspect, Felix Donald, 25, and the seizure of 33 bottles of codeine-based syrup.
On Tuesday, March 24, NDLEA operatives in Taraba State, following on reliable information, stopped a vehicle with the license plate DUT 457 ZB that was transporting 100 blocks of compressed skunk, totaling 135 kg, from Garbachede to Gombe State. The blocks were hidden in sacks of animal feed.
Two suspects, Osama Mamuda, 21, and Auwal Umar, 22, were apprehended in relation to the seizure, according to the statement.
The Chairman of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers and men of the Agency’s MMIA, SOU, DOGI, Ekiti, Ondo, Benue, Edo, and Taraba Commands for the arrests and seizures of the previous week. He also commended their counterparts in all of the commands nationwide for pursuing a fair balance between their efforts to reduce drug supply and demand.
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