Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 53-year-old physically challenged man, Ehiarimwiam Osaromo Emmanuel, at the departure hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos for drug trafficking.

Ehiarimwiam, according to an NDLEA statement, was arrested on August 28 on his way to Italy, via Doha on a Qatar Airways flight. He was found to have concealed 5,000 tablets of Tramadol 225mg in his luggage.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect is a frequent traveller who often travels with lots of bags containing mainly food items, body cream, hair attachment and drinks. The suspect was said to have presented his usual large consignment to NDLEA operatives for search but held on to some packages, which were retrieved from him and properly searched during which the drugs were discovered.

As part of ongoing efforts to demobilise and dismantle all organised criminal groups behind the production and distribution of crystal methamphetamine across the country, the statement said, the NDLEA, on Monday, raided a suspected clandestine laboratory at Opic estate, Agbara, Lagos. Clues from the property led operatives to another in the vicinity where one Peter James was apprehended with some quantity of the substance.

A follow-up operation within the estate also led to the arrest of a meth dealer, Mathew Bobby Imonitie, who was caught with 4.033kilograms of the illicit substance.

A raid at a rented apartment in Raji Rasaki First estate in Festac town, Lagos on Saturday, led to the seizure of 412,780 tablets of Tramadol and the arrest of one of the suspects involved, Kingsley Duru, while troops of 81 Division of the Nigerian Army have handed over to the Lagos Command of NDLEA 792 blocks of cannabis sativa smuggled from the Volta region of Ghana into Ogun State but intercepted at a checkpoint along the Ilaro-Benin Republic border.

In Niger State, NDLEA operatives on Thursday intercepted a truck conveying animal feeds from Lagos to Kaduna with 449 compressed blocks and 111 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 1,531kg belonging to a dealer in Zaria. The drug consignment was said to have been loaded into the truck in Akure, Ondo State. The truck driver, Yahaya Sani, his assistant Samaila Rabiu, his motor boy Bilal Ibrahim, representative of the cannabis owner, Awolu Isyaku and a passenger Mustapha Abdulrahman were all arrested.

In Gombe State, operatives intercepted 811,000 tablets of Tramadol, Diazepam and Exol 5 weighing 150kg in a vehicle loaded in Onitsha, Anambra state at Ahmadu-Kafi area of Gombe, while in Ondo, NDLEA operatives combing the Ala intercepted eight suspected bandits terrorising farmers in the area.

The suspected bandits were nabbed on Friday. Recovered from them include 25 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 296kgs; Six (6) explosive devices; six cartridges; four motorcycles and assorted charms used in terrorising farmers in the forest.

An Abuja businesswoman, Onyinye Nwoke, 38, has been arrested following an intelligence-led raid at her residence, House 56 Aldenco Estate, Galadimawa where operatives uprooted fresh stems of cannabis plants grown in the backyard of the house. The uprooted plants weighed 18.4kgs while 800grams of cannabis seeds were also recovered from the house. (Tribune)

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