The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, has arrested two passengers travelling to Doha on a Qatar Airways flight.
The arrest occurred on Friday, June 21, at the screening point of terminal 2 after the passengers tested positive for ingesting illicit substances.
The suspects, identified as Aikhomoun Daniel (alias Oladapo Olanrewaju) and Ayigoro Waheed Omobolaji, were immediately taken into observatory custody.
Confirming their arrest in a statement released on Sunday by the Director of Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the spokesperson said Daniel excreted a total of 90 wraps of cocaine, weighing 1.022 kg, in six excretions.
Meanwhile, Ayigoro discharged 60 wraps of the same Class A substance, with a total weight of 662 grams, in five excretions.
He explained that an investigation revealed that Aikhomoun Daniel actually stole the identity of his late uncle who was once based in Germany, a decision he claimed he took to get Schengen visa to enable him gain free access to Europe, while his real name is Oladapo Olanrewaju.
Babafemi said no less than 40.32kg of Loud, an imported strong strain of cannabis was on Friday June 28 recovered in a black Toyota Tacoma truck along Lekki-Ikoyi Road when the driver jumped off the vehicle after noticing that NDLEA operatives were on his trail.
In another development, NDLEA operatives have intercepted six thousand, one hundred and twenty-five (6,125) cartons of codeine syrup containing one million and fifty thousand (1,050,000) bottles of the opioid worth over seven billion three hundred and fifty million naira (N7, 350,000,000.00) in street value, at the Port Harcourt Ports complex, Onne, Rivers State.
The statement reads, “The seizure made from six containers on Saturday 29th June 2024 was the third of such in the past four weeks following credible intelligence and diligent tracking of the consignments from their port of departure by a special operations unit of NDLEA, which worked in partnership with the Port Harcourt Ports Command of the Agency and other security agencies including the Customs Service for a 100 percent joint examination of the targeted containers.”
“At the end of the joint examination of the six containers, a total of 6,125 cartons containing 1,050,000 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 157,500 kilograms were recovered on Saturday,” he said.