NDLEA arrests UK-bound grandpa with 11kg cocaine in balloons

A 74-year-old grandfather, Ikwuakalom Nwakoro Emeka, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, after a large consignment of cocaine was discovered in foil papers and balloons concealed in his luggage.

The septuagenarian, who claimed he was travelling to London, United Kingdom, for a holiday, was arrested by NDLEA officers at the departure hall of the Abuja airport while attempting to board a British Airways flight BA082 to Heathrow, London, on Saturday.

During a search of his luggage, blocks of cocaine weighing 11 kilograms were discovered concealed inside food items, including ground dried pepper, carefully wrapped in foil papers and balloons.

In Lagos, NDLEA operatives acting on credible intelligence in the early hours of 9 March arrested a woman, Mrs Maryam Olalowo, at Ikad Hotel and Suites on Etim Inyang Street, Victoria Island, while attempting to sell 89 grams of cocaine and 20 grams of Canadian Loud, a strain of cannabis. She was found with her three children, including an infant, at the time of the arrest.

She confessed that the illicit drugs belonged to her husband, Ibrahim Olalowo Olatunji, who was later taken into custody the same day, while his wife was immediately set free. Ibrahim confirmed ownership of the illicit drugs in his statement, while further investigation revealed that he had previously been arrested, convicted and sentenced to two and a half years’ imprisonment for a similar offence in 2015.

In another interdiction operation, a statement by the Director of Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, on Sunday said operatives of the agency arrested two suspects, Kalilou Simpara and Saidu Ibrahim, at Ebetu Ero, Lagos Island, where they recovered 68,000 pills of tramadol (250 mg and 225 mg) after the suspects had loaded the exhibits into their truck and were preparing to transport them to the Benin Republic on 9 March.

A follow-up operation was conducted on 11 March at Idumota Market, Lagos Island, where the actual owner of the consignment, Nnamdi Cyprian, was arrested. A search of his shop led to the discovery of a parcel already prepared for waybill delivery, containing 1,000 tablets of tramadol (250 mg).

Another raid at Idumota Market on 13 March led to the arrest of Nwanosike Kelvin and the recovery of 47,500 ampoules of pentazocine injection from his shop.

Meanwhile, a 42-year-old Magaji Dan Azumi was arrested at the Bebeji area of Kano with 386 kg of skunk on 10 March, while NDLEA officers in Abuja recovered 282.2 kg of skunk from a suspect, Isah Wako, 42, in the Gwagwalada area of the FCT on Friday, 13 March.

In Edo State, NDLEA operatives raided the Egwa Forest Reserve in Aduan village, Orhionmwon Local Government Area, where a suspect, Chinedo Odalonu, was apprehended and a total of 4,218.96 kg of skunk destroyed on two farms, with 16.5 kg of the same substance recovered.

The NDLEA statement said no fewer than 339,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup were intercepted in two containers at the Apapa seaport in Lagos on Saturday during a joint examination of the shipments by NDLEA officers, men of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies. The containers had earlier been watch-listed by the NDLEA following credible intelligence on the concealment of opioids in them.

The statement added that War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy activities by NDLEA commands equally continued across the country in the past week.

While commending the officers and men of the NAIA, Lagos, Kano, Edo and FCT commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier-General Mohamed Marwa (retd), also praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for maintaining a fair balance between drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.