NDLEA arrests 5 trans-border kingpins with hard drugs in air compressor
By Salihu Ali, Abuja
Nigeria’s Anti-narcotic Agency, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), has dismantled a trans-border drug cartel operating in different parts of the world.
In a special operation, officials of the agency arrested five leaders of the syndicates where different quantities of hard drugs as well as air compressors used to conceal and distribute them globally were recovered.
A press statement by the agency’s spokesperson, Mr. Femi BabaFemi disclosed that leaders of the cartel which spreads across Dubai, UAE; Cotonou, Benin Republic, Togo, Oman, Thailand and Europe as well as Nigeria, had on Christmas and New Year holidays coordinated efforts to send their illicit consignments to Dubai and other parts of the world.
He said, “their lid was blown open on Thursday 29th December 2022 when their freight agent, Onyeisue Collins Chukwudi was arrested by NDLEA officers at the SAHCO export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA), Ikeja Lagos for attempting to export three big automobile air compressors to Dubai.”
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BabaFemi noted that, a follow up operation led to the recovery of additional five compressors at his home at 24 Legacy road, Ayobo area of Lagos with 27.50kgs of skunk taken out of the air compressors after welding equipment were used to cut them open.
Meanwhile, operatives of the agency have seized 2,601.5 kilograms of cannabis and 102,500 pills of pharmaceutical opioids during interdiction operations across Plateau, Edo, Delta, Taraba, Kogi, Kano, Lagos and Adamawa states in the past week.
In his reaction to the special operation and other seizures, the Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Retired Brig. General Mohammed Baba Marwa, commended all the officers involved in the effort, adding that the feat is a confirmation that his warning to drug barons early this year, is a drive to determination and commitment of the officers and men of the Agency to rid Nigeria of substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking.
He charged the personnel across the country to remain steadfast and focused on the corporate goal of the Agency.
