NDLEA arrests China-bound businesswoman with cocaine, seizes N12.4bn cannabis shipment
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a Lagos-based businesswoman, Iwebema Ogechi Peace, after allegedly finding 7.5 kilograms of cocaine hidden inside a false compartment of her suitcase as she prepared to board a Qatar Airways flight to Beijing, China, from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja.
The 38-year-old suspect was arrested on June 21 following intelligence received by NDLEA operatives at the airport. According to the agency, she told investigators that she frequently travelled to China to buy goods for resale in Nigeria, but a search of her checked luggage uncovered four parcels of cocaine concealed in a professionally modified false bottom.
In a separate operation, the anti-narcotics agency intercepted a 40-foot container carrying 4,959 kilograms of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, with an estimated street value of N12.397 billion, during a joint inspection at the Apapa Port in Lagos.
The NDLEA said the shipment had been under surveillance for more than a month after leaving Toronto, Canada, on April 25. Investigators tracked the container through Montreal and Tanger Med in Morocco before it arrived at Tin Can Port in Lagos and was later moved to Apapa Port, where officers eventually seized the illicit consignment.
The agency also uncovered a syndicate accused of secretly planting illicit drugs in the luggage of unsuspecting passengers travelling on commercial buses. The operation began after officers intercepted a bus travelling from Nnewi, Anambra State, to Abuja and discovered 467.7 grams of suspected methamphetamine concealed inside a passenger’s bag.
The passenger, Gloria Peter, reportedly denied any knowledge of the package, prompting investigators to trace the drugs to the bus loaders and driver, Abdurrazak Isah, who allegedly identified fellow passenger Onyebuchi Victor Okoye as the owner of the consignment. NDLEA said all those linked to the case were subsequently arrested during follow-up operations.
In other operations across Lagos, the agency arrested 57-year-old Ikechukwu Uwakwe with 209.5 kilograms of Scottish Loud allegedly being transported to Enugu, while Benin Republic nationals Hossou Tito Julien, 30, and Mancellim Dossou, 19, alongside Nigerian suspect Jackson ThankGod, were arrested after operatives recovered 558,900 pills of Tramadol 250mg concealed in a specially fabricated compartment of a truck intercepted on Mile 2 Bridge. Officers also arrested Lucky Abonga and Osas Azamobo with 118 kilograms of skunk along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, while Helen Ese Idiji and Rashidat Sa’adullah were apprehended in Amukoko with 28.8 kilograms of the same substance.
Reacting to the series of arrests and seizures, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, retired Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, commended officers of the agency’s MMIA, Special Operations Units, Apapa, FCT, Anambra and Lagos commands for their efforts. He urged them to sustain the momentum in disrupting drug trafficking networks while continuing the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse campaign aimed at reducing substance abuse across the country.
