Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a businesswoman from Ibadan, Oyo State, Adewunmi Adebola Dorcas, and an auto parts dealer, Arinze Ora, over attempts to export consignments of opioids and cocaine to London, United Kingdom, and Congo Brazzaville, respectively.
NDLEA officers at the export shed of Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos intercepted a cargo destined for the United Kingdom on Friday, 6th September 2024. A thorough search of the consignment revealed 924 bottles of codeine-based syrup weighing 135.70 kg and 5,250 tablets of Rohypnol concealed within cartons of foodstuffs.
A statement released by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, indicated that the freight agent, Owojori Olanrewaju Sunday, who presented the cargo for export, was promptly arrested.
‘’Further investigation led to the arrest of another suspect, Adewunmi Akeem Temitope, who claimed that his mother, 58-year-old Mrs. Adewunmi Adebola Dorcas sent the consignment to him from Ibadan to deliver to the agent. A follow-up operation on Saturday 7th September led to the arrest of Mrs Adewunmi in Ibadan where she deals in foodstuffs and cargo export.
In his statement, the agent Owojori confessed that he has been working for Mrs Adewunmi to export cargoes to the UK, adding that he was paid N2,411,000.00 for the job, while he was paid N2.1million for a similar consignment handled for the businesswoman earlier.”
In the same vein, NDLEA operatives at the same export shed of Lagos airport on Wednesday, 11th September intercepted several cartons of auto spare parts and Checkers powder custard destined for Congo Brazzaville on Ethiopian Airlines. Babafemi noted that a thorough search of the cargo resulted in the discovery of 300 grams of cocaine concealed within the containers of Checkers powder custard that were packed alongside some auto parts.
‘’A follow-up operation led to the arrest of the sender of the consignment, Arinze Ora, who deals in auto parts at Shop 12, Block 7 Aspanda Trade Fair Auto Parts Wing, Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos.”
Meanwhile, operatives of a Special Operations Unit of the NDLEA on Tuesday, 10th September, arrested two brothers: Ikechukwu Ikeabba and Ugochukwu Ikeabba, who are sponsors of drug traffickers specialising in exporting drugs by ingestion to Vietnam. Their arrest followed a diligent investigation into an earlier arrest of an Onitsha, Anambra State-based businessman, Ibeanusi Solomon Nosike, who excreted 68 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.282 kilograms after a 12-day observation period. He was apprehended at the local terminal of the Lagos airport by NDLEA operatives.
The 36-year-old Ibeanusi was arrested in the early hours of Thursday, 8th August 2024, at the old domestic terminal of the Lagos airport while attempting to board the first flight from Lagos to Abuja, where he was scheduled to join a Qatar Airways flight to Vietnam at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, at around 10 am the same day.
Another businessman bound for Vietnam, 54-year-old Paul Okwuy Mbadugha, was arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Abuja airport on Monday, 12th August 2024, during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam, via Doha, after he tested positive for cocaine ingestion. After four days under observation, Mbadugha had ingested a total of 88 wraps of the illicit drug, with a gross weight of 1.710 kilograms.
At the time of the arrest of the two kingpins, the Ikeabba brothers were found in possession of 87 wraps of cocaine dummies used for training potential swallowers.
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