TheCable

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives have arrested  Chukwuemeka Clement, a 67-year-old suspected trafficker, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja for ingesting 100 wraps of cocaine.

In a statement on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said Chukwuemeka was apprehended on Tuesday during the inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight 951 from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

According to Babafemi, Chukwuemeka claimed he ventured into drug trafficking to raise enough money to marry a new wife.

The NDLEA spokesperson said the suspect was arrested after a body scan revealed multiple pellets in his stomach.

He added that Chukwuemeka excreted a total of 100 wraps of cocaine weighing 2.195 kilogrammes in four excretions.

“Chukwuemeka in his statement, claimed to have spent 30 years in Brazil, Ethiopia, and Thailand, and was once married, but lost his wife and without a child,” the statement reads.

“He added that was why he decided to go into drug trafficking to raise enough money to marry a new wife and start life afresh.”

Babafemi said on the same Tuesday, the agency operatives intercepted a 45-year-old woman, Bilkisu Mohammed Bello while preparing to board a flight to Saudi Arabia at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.

He said Bello confessed during interrogation that pellets of cocaine given to her to swallow before her flight were kept in a house in Farawa area of Kano.

When the NDLEA officers were led to the house, 52 wraps of the illicit substance with a total weight of 767 grams were recovered.

MORE ARRESTS IN OGUN, EDO, BAUCHI 

Speaking further on activities of the agency across Nigeria, Babafemi said the NDLEA operatives located and destroyed 10.38 tonnes of cannabis sativa covering over 4.152 hectares at James village, in Ogunmakin, Obafemi Owode LGA of Ogun state.

He said the NDLEA men were supported in the operation by officers and men of the Nigerian Army, civil defence corps, and Amotekun personnel on Tuesday.

He added that the team also intercepted six suspects in a truck marked FS548XN carrying a 40ft container loaded with logs of wood, noting that a search of the container led to the recovery of two bags of cannabis sativa weighing 20 kilogrammes.

Babafemi identified the suspects as Ahmed Yusuf, Olaniyi Babatunde, Adedeji Babatunde, Richard John, Osolale Olamilekan, and Abdulazeez Saied.

He said operatives on October 1, also raided Obi camp in Owan West LGA of Edo where 30 sacks of skunk weighing 300 kilogrammes concealed in charcoal were evacuated from an old dilapidated mud house.

“Similarly, two cannabis farms measuring 1.179065 hectares at Igbanke forest in Orhiowon local government area were identified and destroyed last Friday while four suspects: Tersoo Zaria, 28; Ifeanyi Osai, 53; Moses David, 19, and Daniel Gabriel, 20, were arrested,” he said.

“In Gombe state, a suspect, Auwal Bindow, was arrested on Friday along Bauchi-Gombe road with 50,000 capsules of tramadol.

“NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway nabbed Anuoluwapo  Iyanu, 32, with 52 blocks of compressed pawpaw-shaped cannabis sativa weighing 30 kilogrammes last Wednesday.”

Babafemi added that Buba Marwa, chairman of NDLEA, commended all the commands across the country for intensifying their war against drug abuse.