Two Pakistani Businessmen, Blind Nigerian, Others Arrested for Drug Trafficking

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested two Pakistani businessmen at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos with eight kilogrammes of cocaine concealed in a public address system while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Lahole, Pakistan via Doha.

A press statement  yesterday  by the spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, said the two suspects: Asif Muhammed, 45 and Hussain Naveed, 57, who hold Nigerian residence permits suspected to be fake, are frequent travelers to Nigeria under the guise of doing textile business.

He said they were arrested last Saturday at the Lagos airport barely a week after they came to Nigeria on 30th October.

He said operatives at the SAHCO import shed of the airport on Friday seized 13 cartons of tramadol 225mg and 200mg imported from Karachi, Pakistan. The consignment has a total weight of 465.1 kilogrammes and 642,800 pills of the pharmaceutical opioid.

He said the previous day, last Thursday operatives at the NAHCO export shed of the airport also intercepted a consignment of different illicit drugs: cannabis, cocaine and methamphetamine as well as tramadol 225mg and Rohyphnol concealed in footwears and soap packs going to UAE, Dubai. A 32-year-old Oladitan Olufunmilayo who presented the consignment for export was arrested.

He also revealed that two businessmen who have been on the run for months over their involvement in drug trafficking have been arrested by anti-narcotic officers assigned to track them. He said Nnebo Christopher who has been wanted for his role in the importation of 40 cartons containing 346,800 pills of co-codamol, a brand of paracetamol with codeine seized at the cargo wing of the MMIA local airport since March 2022, was arrested last Thursday.

Babafemi said operatives on the trail of an automobile parts dealer, Omeje Oliver (a.k.a David Mark) since April eventually arrested him last Monday in Enugu where he fled to after abandoning his business at ASPANDA, Trade Fair Complex, Lagos. He was wanted in connection with the seizure of 600 grammes of heroin concealed inside soles of lady’s foot wears going to Liberia on April 16.

He disclosed that on the same day Omeje was arrested, operatives at the SAHCO export shed of the Lagos airport intercepted 550 grams of cannabis loud concealed in machine parts going to Dubai, UAE, while the sender, Ogbure  Ifeanyi was later arrested.

In Katsina state, operatives on patrol at Malumfashi-Zaria road, arrested a blind man, Bukar Haruna, 52, and his son Saka Haruna, 30 while heading to Niger republic with 20.5 kilogrammes cannabis and 10 grammes of exol-5. They hail from Damagram area of Niger republic.

No less than 2,685.5 kilogrammes of cannabis were recovered in four different operations conducted in parts of Edo state last week. While 53 bags of C/S weighing 742.5 kilogrammes were seized on Wednesday  November 2, at a camp in Esioriri, Owan East LGA with four suspects: Chukueke Igba, 32; Solomon Peter, 34; Emmanuel Jeremiah, 36 and Happiness Chidi, 37 arrested, another raid in the house of Joy Zubaru, 45, led to her arrest with 30.5kgs of cannabis recovered.

In the same vein, operatives last Thursday stormed the Egbeta forest in Ovia North East where they recovered 112 bags of cannabis and 8 bags of seeds with a combined weight of 1,598.5 kilogrammes , while another team evacuated 27 bags of same substance weighing 314kgs at Amahor village in Igueben local government area.

In Mubi area of Adamawa, operatives on Tuesday, November 1, intercepted a Toyota Corolla car transporting 9,600 pills of tramadol.  A follow-up operation later led to the arrest of the owner of the consignment, Mamuda Ramadan, (a.k.a Muller), while another suspect, Alhassan Muhammed, was arrested on Sunday 30th October along Abuja-Kaduna express road, with 136,000 pills of tramadol concealed inside his cars spare tyre.

Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd) while commending the officers and men of the MMIA, Edo, Katsina, Adamawa, and Kaduna Commands of the agency for the successful operations in the past week, urged them and their counterparts across the country not to rest on their oars until all drug syndicates operating in Nigeria are completely dismantled and the last gramme of illicit substance taken out of the streets.