Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA have failed attempts by two Drug kingpins to smuggle consignments of heroin into Nigeria.
Director media & Advocacy NDLEA Femi Babafemi in a release said the Drug kingpins were arrested at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Port Harcourt and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport MMIA Lagos .
He explained that one of the kingpins uses dual identities to aid his cross border movements, has a Nigerian passport with his original name Onyekwonike Elochukwu Sylvanus, 30, and that of Sierra Leone with a different name kargbo Mohammed Foday, was arrested by NDLEA operatives with his Sierra Leonean passport on Sunday 2nd February 2025 at the Port Harcourt Airport Rivers State during the inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways flight from Doha through Abuja to Port Harcourt.
Onyekwonike was confirmed to have ingested illicit drugs through body scanner as he expelled a total of 62 wraps of heroin in five excretions, weighing 1.348 kilograms.
According to the NDLEA, investigations reveals that Onyekwonike Elochukwu Sylvanus also known as kargbo Mohammed Foday alternates his two identities for Drug trafficking missions between Thailand, Pakistan, Iran and West African countries.
The second kingpin James Herbert Chinoso 48 was arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Lagos Airport on Saturday 1st February 2025 upon arrival from Madagascar via Addis Ababa Ethiopia on an Ethiopian Airlines flight as he allegedly ingested 63 wraps of heroin with a total weight of 909 grams.
Two parcels of 2.82 kilograms of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the United States with Lagos as destination were equally intercepted by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, at a courier firm in Lagos on Thursday 6th February. In another interdiction operation same day but in a different logistics company in Lagos, anti-narcotics officers intercepted 80 ampoules of pentazocine injection 225grams concealed in cartons heading to Canada.
In Kano, NDLEA operatives on Monday 3rd February arrested the duo of Usaini Salisu and Yahaya Mu’azu, both 23 years old, at Gadar Tamburawa along Zaria road, where 15,396 pills of tramadol were recovered from a gas cylinder used to conceal the consignment. In another operation same day, operatives nabbed a female suspect, Choima Okeke, 35, with 27 blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 15kg, at Sabon Gari area of Kano.
A consignment of 12,800 pills of tramadol 250mg going to Shuwarin in Jigawa state, was intercepted by NDLEA officers on patrol along Kabba-Obajana highway in Kogi state on Saturday 8th February with a suspect, Salisu Basiru, 33, arrested. Similarly, no fewer than 65 parcels of Colorado, a strong synthetic strain of cannabis with a total weight of 1.600kg also heading to Jigawa state, were recovered from another suspect, Rufai Hassan, 32 at the same check point same day.
With the same vigour,
Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week. These include: WADA enlightenment lecture to students and staff of Saint Secondary School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; Taangayar Malam Abubakar Bichi, an Almajiri school, Bichi, Kano; Federal Government Girls College, Calabar, Cross River; College of Nursing and Science, Birnin Kebbi; and Meiran Community Junior Secondary School, Abule Egba, Lagos state among others.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA, PHIA, DOGI, Kano and Kogi Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) stated that their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts are well appreciated.
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