The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says Liang Tak You, a Chinese businessman and Grace Ekpeme, an 80-year-old grandma, topped the list of arrests made by the agency in its nationwide operation.
This is contained in a statement by Femi Babafemi, the spokesperson of NDLEA, on Sunday, July 27.
The operation led to the seizure of consignments of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis hidden in moimoi sachets and Canadian Loud, another strong strain of cannabis concealed in canned food items imported from Canada.
The statement said that NDLEA operatives arrested Liang at the arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos, on Friday, July 25 based on actionable intelligence.
“The suspect, who arrived in Nigeria from Bangkok via Dubai, UAE, on an Emirates Airline flight, is a Chinese national, naturalised and based in Malaysia, but flew to Thailand where he picked up two suitcases filled with 50 parcels of Loud weighing 26.10kg before heading to Nigeria via UAE.
“Upon his arrival at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives who were tracking his movement from his port of departure allowed him to pass through necessary protocols before picking him up on his way out of the airport. The octogenarian grandma Mrs. Grace Ekpeme was arrested at Edet-Nsa street, Base Site, Calabar South, Cross River state with over 3kg skunk in the early hours of Saturday 26th July following intelligence on her drug dealing activities.”
The NDLEA stated that Chidi Agbafo, a suspect, was arrested along the Epe-Ajah expressway while transporting consignments of 21.7kg of Colorado, some of which were packaged in moimoi cooking sachets, and 3.8 litres of codeine-based syrup in a commercial bus to deliver in Warri and Oghara, Delta State, on Wednesday, July 23.
That is not all, it noted that a total of 101kg of Canadian Loud factory packed in 202 tins of imported food items labelled ‘Bean Salad Mix’ and concealed in two Toyota Sienna buses in a container that came from Canada, were recovered at the Apapa seaport in Lagos.
“The discovery was made during a joint examination of the container by NDLEA officers, men of Customs Service and other security agencies on Friday, 25th July.
“No fewer than 71,000 pills of tramadol, diazepam and exol-5 were recovered from Usman Musa by NDLEA operatives on patrol along Abuja- Kaduna highway on Wednesday, 23rd July, when the suspect was travelling with the consignment of opioids in a commercial bus going to Kano.
There is more, the statement said that a 30-year-old lady, Binta Usman, was on Wednesday 23rd July arrested by NDLEA officers who recovered 30.1kg of skunk from her house in Muna Moforo area of Maiduguri.
“A follow-up operation later led to the arrest of her accomplice, Bala Abdullahi, in the same area of the Borno state capital on Friday, 25th July.
“Three brothers: Nanna Ozirinye, Chizom Ozirinye and Maxwell Ozirinye were arrested on Saturday, 26th July arrested when NDLEA operatives raided a cannabis plantation at Bending Corner Forest, Idoani, Ose local council area of Ondo State, where they destroyed 2,500 kilograms of skunk on an hectare of land and recovered already processed 121.4kg of the same psychoactive substance.
Other arrests were made in states like Edo, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Gombe and Kogi.
It said that the War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, and social advocacy activities by NDLEA Commands sensitised students in secondary schools like Komu/Babaode High School, Babaode, Itesiwaju LGA, Oyo state; Beacon Christian Academy, Ngodo, Afikpo LGA, Ebonyi; Government Day Secondary School, Araba, Illela, Sokoto; and Government Junior College, Agege, Lagos and a traditional ruler in Akwa community.
Mohamed Buba Marwa, the chairman of NDLEA, however, commended the officers and men of MMIA, Apapa, Lagos, Cross River, Edo, Ondo, Nasarawa, Borno, Niger, Ogun, Gombe, Kaduna and Kogi Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week.
He, however, urged official across all commands to pursue a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
