NDLEA foils major drug export attempts to UK, Italy, others

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have thwarted attempts by drug syndicates to export large consignments of cocaine, methamphetamine, and opioids through Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos State, and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, to the United Kingdom, Italy, Turkey, and Qatar.

On November 5, 2024, NDLEA officers intercepted 13 parcels of cocaine weighing 4.40kg destined for the UK via Frankfurt on a Lufthansa Airlines flight at the export shed of the Lagos airport.

According to a statement released on Sunday by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, a businessman linked to the consignment, Ekeocha Nelson, was tracked and arrested on November 8.

Babafemi also disclosed the arrest of another businessman, identified as Adegbite Solomon, who attempted to export 7,800 pills of tramadol along with other drugs.

He said, “The bid by another businessman, Adegbite Solomon (aka Obama), to export 7,800 pills of tramadol, 180 tablets of Rohypnol, and 60 bottles of codeine to Italy was foiled at the departure hall of the Lagos airport on Monday, November 11. NDLEA operatives arrested him after recovering the opioids concealed in food and other items while he attempted to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Italy.

“He claimed to have travelled to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea and earned a living as a street beggar before venturing into the logistics business.”

In another operation, NDLEA operatives arrested a businessman, Anoke Roomy, with 1,100 pills of 225mg tramadol hidden in his luggage while he attempted to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Istanbul, Turkey, at the Lagos airport on November 15.

Babafemi added, “Following credible intelligence, NDLEA officers from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, alongside their counterparts from the FCT Command, raided a hotel room at the Federal Housing Authority Estate, Lugbe, Abuja, on Friday, November 15. Two suspects, Omeh Uchenna Jude, 36, and Anene Valentine Chigozie, 34, were arrested with 1.8kg of methamphetamine, which they were preparing to take to Qatar.”

In another intelligence-led operation, a trans-border drug trafficker, Emmanuel Okeke, was arrested during an attempt to smuggle drugs into Ghana.

Babafemi stated, “Officers of an NDLEA task force on Saturday, November 16, foiled an attempt by a trans-border trafficker, Emmanuel Okechukwu Okeke, to smuggle 50,000 pills of tramadol 225mg from Ghana into Lagos. The pills were concealed in the body compartments of a Toyota Hummer Bus belonging to GUO Transport Company, driven by the suspect. The vehicle was intercepted in the Ijanikin area of the Lagos-Badagry expressway while coming from Ghana.”

The NDLEA spokesperson further revealed that operatives also arrested other drug dealers and seized their consignments in Edo and Kwara states.