Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have recovered 1.20 kilograms of cocaine from a Spain-based businessman, Francis Akajiobi, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State.
Akajiobi, 50, had concealed the cocaine in the soles of a pair of black sandals he was wearing while attempting to board a flight to Madrid. According to a statement by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, Akajiobi confessed that he was to deliver the cocaine to a friend and neighbor in Spain for €5,000.
“A Spain-based businessman, 50-year-old Francis Akajiobi, has been arrested by operatives of the NDLEA at the departure hall of Terminal 2 of the MMIA, Ikeja Lagos, after parcels of cocaine weighing 1.20 kilograms were discovered in his pair of sandals while attempting to board his Royal Air Maroc flight to Madrid, Spain,” Babafemi said.
In another development, NDLEA operatives arrested Makinde S. Lekan in connection with 99 parcels of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 51.60 kilograms, which arrived from Canada via a Turkish Airlines flight.
Babafemi also reported the arrest of a Lagos-Ghana tramadol syndicate kingpin, Chukwuemaka Obodozie, with 100,000 tablets of 225 mg tramadol. Obodozie was apprehended at the Cele bus stop on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Lagos, after arriving from Ghana.
Meanwhile, in Osun State, NDLEA operatives arrested 17 suspects and destroyed 31,250 kilograms of cannabis on 12.5 hectares of farmland during a raid in the Owena forest in Oriade Local Government Area. The operatives also recovered 84 kilograms of processed cannabis sativa and a single barrel Dane gun.
Additionally, NDLEA operatives intercepted Ubaida Aliyu, 32, on the Kaduna-Zaria highway with 573 rounds of 7.60 live ammunition intended for delivery to bandits in Sokoto. Other notable arrests include Godwin Udochukwu with 25,000 ampoules of Pentazocine injection and Alkasim Mikailu with 37,880 ampoules of Diazepam injection in Kano.
In Lagos, Abioye Adeniyi and Rafiu Lekan were arrested with 55 jumbo wraps of Ghana Loud along the Badagry-Seme Road. Samson Ifeayi Egwutouhi was nabbed with 20 blocks of compressed cannabis sativa on the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja Expressway. In Bauchi State, Suleiman Yahaya and Ibrahim Bello (a.k.a Special) were arrested with 315 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 204.750 kilograms.
Babafemi noted the NDLEA’s continuous efforts to curb drug trafficking and related crimes across Nigeria.
