NDLEA intercepts cocaine in soap bars at Enugu Airport

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a 27-year old man Madu Chukwuemeka Miracle at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu in Enugu State with 76 cocaine-made soap bars in his luggage.

The suspect arrived from Nairobi, Kenya via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Disclosing this in a statement, the Agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the 76 cocaine soap bars were discovered in the suspect’s three bags during a search.

Another bag was also discovered to have two plastic bottles containing cream like liquid, which tested positive to cocaine.

The cocaine bars were said to have weighed 10.650 kilogrammes while the liquid cocaine weighed 2.496 kilograms, bringing the total weight to 13.146 kilograms.

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In another related development, the village head of Gidan Abba in Bodinga Local Government Area of Sokoto State, Abubakar Ibrahim, was among 11 suspects arrested in operations which yielded recovery of 991,320 pills of pharmaceutical opioids, 1,251kg of cannabis and khat, as well as 46.637 kilogrammes of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin across seven states.

At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos, NDLEA operatives attached to the SAHCO import shed on Wednesday, October 26, intercepted a total of 15 cartons containing 802,000 pills of Tramadol imported from Dubai, UAE and Karachi, Pakistan.

Ten cartons of Tramadol 225mg also came in from Dubai on Ethiopian Airlines flight, while four cartons of 100mg and a carton of 225mg Tramadol came from Karachi, Pakistan on another Ethiopian Airlines flight.

On the same day, operatives at the SAHCO export shed intercepted cans of tomato paste going to the United Kingdom.

A thorough search of the consignment revealed that the tomato cans were used to conceal 36 pellets of cannabis with a gross weight of 21.30 kilogrammes, leading to the arrest of a cargo agent, Sodehinde Akinwale, in connection with the seizure.

On Friday, October 28, operatives attached to the NAHCO import shed of the Lagos airport seized five cartons of dried khat leaves, weighing 107.70kg that came in from Bangkok, Thailand through Dubai on an Emirates Airline flight.

A follow up operation on the seizure of 11.90kg Methamphetamine concealed in the heads of dried fish going to Dubai, UAE on August 5 equally led to the arrest of a 30-year-old bricklayer, Babatunde Quadri Mamowora ,on Thursday, October 27, at Sango Ota area of Ogun State, in collaboration with men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).