…Seizes N10.3bn cannabis shipment in Lagos
By Seun Ibiyemi
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 38-year-old South African woman, Ms. Will Jessica Ann, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, for allegedly concealing 5.75 kilograms of heroin in her luggage and using her three-year-old son as a cover to evade security checks.
The suspect was apprehended on Monday, July 6, during the inward clearance of passengers aboard Qatar Airways flight QR1433 from Doha to Abuja.
According to the agency, the woman initially denied travelling with any checked baggage. However, NDLEA officers later established that the tags on two bags containing 14 large blocks of heroin matched the claim tags attached to her passport.
Upon further interrogation, she admitted ownership of the bags, claiming she had forgotten that she checked them in. She told investigators that she had travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja.
Preliminary intelligence indicated that the suspect is allegedly linked to a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Cambodian-South African corridor alongside her husband and associate, Jan Coenraad De Jager.
In a separate operation, NDLEA operatives at the arrival hall of Terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, arrested a 48-year-old commercial motorcyclist, Onyechere Daniel Chinadu, after his arrival from Madagascar via Addis Ababa aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight on June 28.
A search of his backpack led to the discovery of 87 wraps of methamphetamine concealed in clothing items.
During interrogation, Chinadu disclosed that he had worked as an “Okada” rider in the Oke-Afa area of Lagos for 15 years before allegedly being recruited into drug trafficking by a friend based in Uganda.
He further claimed that he ingested several pellets of methamphetamine in Uganda before embarking on a trip to Madagascar to deliver the illicit consignment.
However, upon arrival, immigration authorities reportedly denied him entry, forcing his sponsor, identified as Ozor Igo, to reroute him to Lagos, where he was arrested.
Unable to state the exact number of pellets he had swallowed, the suspect was placed under observation. Between his arrest and July 1, he excreted an additional 13 pellets, bringing the total quantity recovered to 100 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.715 kilograms.
Meanwhile, at the Apapa seaport in Lagos, NDLEA officers, working alongside personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, intercepted 8,287 nylon bags of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 4,143.5 kilograms and valued at over N10.3 billion.
The drugs were discovered in a container imported from Canada during a joint examination conducted on Friday, July 10.
The agency said the seizure followed weeks of intelligence gathering, tracking and monitoring by operatives of the Maritime Intelligence Unit in collaboration with the Apapa Strategic Command.
In another operation, NDLEA operatives attached to the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation thwarted an attempt to export 2.5 kilograms of skunk concealed inside a gas compressor destined for Cyprus through a courier company in Lagos.
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The agency also intensified its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign across the country, conducting sensitisation programmes in schools, places of worship, workplaces and communities.
Among the institutions visited were Nnodo Secondary School in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State; Government Girls Secondary School in Sharada, Kano State; Royal Jesuit College in Agbado Ekiti; and Community Secondary School in Idofa, Ogun State.
In Rivers State, the leadership of the NDLEA Zone 14 Command paid an advocacy visit to Governor Siminalayi Fubara at the Government House in Port Harcourt.
Commending officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Maritime Intelligence Unit and Apapa commands for the successful operations, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), urged personnel across the country to sustain the momentum in the fight against drug trafficking while intensifying public enlightenment efforts.
