Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 34-year-old South American male from Suriname, Mr Dadda Albert, for smuggling into Nigeria 117 parcels of cocaine concealed in extra-large latex condoms factory-packed inside bottles of 100ml body spray.
Mr Albert was arrested at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers State.
The Director of Media and Advocacy of NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, made the disclosure through a statement obtained by our correspondent on Sunday.
Mr Babafemi said, “The suspect claimed he departed his country, Suriname, located in the North Eastern coast of South America, on April 2, for Sao Paulo, Brazil, and he departed from Sao Paulo to Nigeria on Friday, April 7, onboard Qatar Airways flight in search of his long-lost Nigerian father, whom he called Omini.”
In the same vein, NDLEA operatives and other stakeholders at the Tincan seaport in Lagos intercepted 110 parcels of Colorado.
Mr Babafemi said the strain of cannabis, weighing 55kg, was hidden in a container bearing five units of used vehicles, marked MSCU 4972769, from Toronto via Montreal, Canada.
“The seizure was part of a total of 1,559.3 kilograms (1.5 tons) of the psychoactive substance seized during interdiction operations in five states in the past week,” he said.
Meanwhile, two suspects, Mr Nura Ibrahim, 40, and Mr Habibu Sadiq, 38, were arrested with 120 blocks of cannabis, weighing 148.7kg, along the Zaria-Kano road on Sunday, April 2.
Mr Babafemi also noted that not less than 418.5kg of the same substance and a Sienna Space bus used in conveying it were recovered on Thursday, April 6, at a notorious drug hub, Patey, Lagos Island.
Similarly, a suspect, Mr Azi Solomon, was arrested on the same day at the Ojota garage while attempting to move 23kg of cannabis to another state.
Two suspects, Mr Abubakar Abdulahi and Mr Stanley Tobias, were arrested on Friday, April 7, with 108,000 tablets of tramadol at Oyingbo motor park in Lagos mainland.
In Imo, NDLEA operatives intercepted a commercial bus, from which a total of 37,210 pills of opioids and 30 bottles of codeine syrup were recovered, and three suspects were arrested in follow-up operations.
Also, a total of 40.9kg of cannabis was seized from two suspects – Mr Haruna Adamu, 32, and Mr Salisu Ibrahim, 30, in parts of Taraba State, just as 502,840 pills of tramadol and exol-5 were recovered from another suspect, Mr Imrana Aliyu in Wukari, on Thursday, April 6, while 205.6kg was recovered from the home of a fleeing suspect in the Gida Dubu area of Bauchi metropolis.
The Sokoto State Command of the anti-narcotics agency also received 667.6kg of cannabis seized by men of the Nigeria Customs Service along the Illela, Niger Republic border.
