By Abraham Olatunbosun
A 34-year-old male South American from Suriname, Dadda Albert has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers state for bringing into Nigeria 117 parcels of cocaine concealed in extra-large latex condoms factory packed inside bottles of 100ml body spray.
A statement on Sunday by the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, said the suspect claimed he departed his country, Suriname, located in the North Eastern coast of South America on 2nd April for Sao Paulo, Brazil and from São Paulo boarded Qatar Airways flight to Nigeria last Friday in search of his long-lost Nigerian father whom he called “Omini.”
In another development, NDLEA officers at Tincan Sea Port in Lagos have intercepted 110 parcels of Colorado, a strain of cannabis, weighing 55 kilogrammes hidden in a container marked MSCU 4972769 from Toronto via Montreal, Canada.
According to Babafemi, the illicit consignment was discovered in the container bearing five units of used vehicles, during a joint examination of the cargo by NDLEA and other port stakeholders. He disclosed that the seizure was part of a total of 1,559.3 kilogrammes (1.5 tons) of the psychoactive substance seized during interdiction operations in five states in the past week.
He said while two suspects: Nura Ibrahim, 40, and Habibu Sadiq, 38, were arrested with 120 blocks of cannabis weighing 148.7 kilogrammes along Zaria-Kano road, Kano on Sunday 2nd April, not less than 418.5 kilogrammes of the same substance and a Sienna space bus used in conveying it were recovered last Thursday at a notorious drug hub, Patey, Lagos Island.
He disclosed that a suspect, Azi Solomon was arrested same day at Ojota garage while attempting to move 23 kilogrammes cannabis to another state. Similarly, two suspects: Abubakar Abdulahi and Stanley Tobias were arrested last Friday with 108,000 tablets of tramadol at Oyingbo motor park in Lagos.
In Imo, NDLEA operatives on routine patrol along Owerri – Onitsha expressway intercepted a commercial bus from which a total of 37, 210 pills of opioids and 30 bottles of codeine syrup were recovered and three suspects arrested in follow up operations.
Babafemi said a total of 40.9 kilogrammes cannabis was sized from two suspects: Haruna Adamu, 32, and Salisu Ibrahim, 30, in parts of Taraba, just as 502,840 pills of tramadol and exol-5 were recovered from a suspect, Imrana Aliyu in Wukari lastThursday; 205.6 kilogrammes was recovered from the home of a fleeing suspect in Gida Dubu area of Bauchi metropolis.
He disclosed that the Sokoto state command of the Agency also received 667.6 kilogrammes cannabis seized by men of the Customs Service along Illela-Niger Republic border.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) while commending the officers and men of PHIA, Tincan, Kano, Lagos, Imo, Taraba, Bauchi, and Sokoto Commands of the agency for their vigilance and professionalism, urged them and their peers across the country to maintain the current momentum in their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts and even strive to exceed set targets.
