NDLEA thwarts US, Saudi, Poland, Italy-bound drug shipments hidden in prayer beads, others
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Sunday said it has thwarted desperate bids by some drug trafficking organisations (DTO) to move illicit consignments such as Cocaine, Tramadol, Loud, Molly and others concealed in prayer beads, packs of board games, female cloths to the United States of America, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Poland, and United Arab Emirates through logistics firms and the Lagos airport.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja. Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said at least two suspects behind some of the aborted missions at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos have already been arrested.
One of them, the statement indicated, is a 43-year-old businesswoman, Jakpor Egware May who was nabbed at the Gate ‘C’ departure hall of the Lagos airport while attempting to board an Air France flight to Italy on Saturday 8th March 2025.
According to the statement, when she was searched, 190 parcels of tramadol 225mg and another parcel of skunk, a strain of cannabis, were recovered from her luggage.
In her statement, she claimed that she bought the drugs herself, with the intention to resell them in Italy, Babafemi said.
Babafemi said at the export shed of the Lagos airport, NDLEA officers on Tuesday 11th March arrested a 60-year-old suspect, Yahaya Fatai Ayinla, while attempting to ship a cargo containing cloths used to conceal 400grams of skunk going to New York, United States of America.
The statement reads, “At some logistics companies in Lagos, efforts by drug traffickers to export over two kilograms of Loud, Molly, Tramadol 365mg, 225mg hidden in Vitamin C bottles and female cloths to the US were frustrated by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI”.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA, DOGI, Kano, Kwara, Kaduna, Taraba, Abia, Osun, and FCT 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.
