In what could be said to be another success in the fight against drugs in the country, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested A 56-year-old widow and mother of four, Mrs. Ajisegiri Sidika, who concealed 400grams of cocaine in her footwear at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, on her way to Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
According to Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, the suspect claimed to be a businesswoman trading in adult and children’s wears on Lagos Island.
She was intercepted on Sunday, November 13, 2022, in an attempt to board a Qatar Airways flight going to Saudi Arabia, via Doha.
Babafemi said: “Upon a critical examination of the pair of sandals she was wearing, two parcels of cocaine weighing 400grams were recovered from them.”
In the same vein, attempts by a tricycle parts seller, Ayoade Tayo, to send 1kg of Tramadol 225mg and Rohypnol to Istanbul, Turkey, via Cairo, on an Egypt Airline flight, the same day, were also frustrated by NDLEA operatives, who arrested him.
He was at the airport to hand over the drugs hidden inside a bag of food items to an intending passenger, Idowu Ayoade, but was arrested before he succeeded in doing that.
An intending passenger to Oman, via Asky airline, Agbamuche Nkeonye, and a lady, Adeoye Fatimo, who accompanied him to present a bag containing varieties of foodstuffs and body lotion, which were used to conceal 1.10kg cannabis and some Rohypnol capsules, were also arrested at the Departure Hall of the Lagos airport, on Thursday, November 18, 2022.
Anti-narcotics officers attached to the SAHCO export shed of the airport equally foiled attempts by traffickers to smuggle consignments of cannabis and ecstasy tablets concealed in three tubers of yam, going to Dubai, UAE, on Wednesday, November 17, 2022.
The freight agent who presented the yams for export, Inegbu Akunna, was promptly arrested, while the consignor, Ahmodu Sulaimon, was also nabbed after that.
At the Brawal container shed of Kirikiri lighter terminal in Lagos, NDLEA operatives equally intercepted cartons of deadly drinks in a container marked APZU3671697 during a joint examination with Customs.
Though the bill of lading indicated that the container originated from Cape town, South Africa, a search of the shippers’ database showed it was loaded from Antwerp, Belgium.
A full inspection of the container on Thursday 18th Nov showed a total of five cartons of beverages labelled as Euphoria cannabis beer and three cartons of cannabis energy drink were found. Other drinks in the container include 21 cartons of a drink labelled as monkey shoulder; 20 cartons of dead man’s finger; and 139 of champagne fruit, among others.
