NDLEA Nabs South African with Methamphetamine Consignment at Abuja Airport

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

A South African, Erasmus Jean-Pierre, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja over an attempt to smuggle 2.6 kilogrammes of methamphetamine via the Nigerian airport to the Middle East.

A statement on Sunday by the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, read: “Attempt by a 29-year-old South African, Erasmus Jean-Pierre, to export 2.6 kilogrammes of methamphetamine concealed in his luggage to the Middle East through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA Abuja on Wednesday 23rd August, 2023, was thwarted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, who arrested him and recovered the illicit drug.”

He disclosed that the suspect was intercepted by NDLEA operatives during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 404 from Abuja to the Middle East via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, adding that a thorough search of his luggage led to the discovery of the whitish powdery illicit substance factory packed in different parts of the bag.

Babafemi said preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect arrived Lagos through Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire on Saturday 19th August, came to Abuja on Tuesday 22nd August, and took possession of the brown bag containing the drug consignment last Wednesday before heading to the Abuja airport for his flight out of Nigeria.

Meanwhile, NDLEA officers in Gombe State on patrol along Darazo road last Monday recovered an abandoned Volkswagen Sharon vehicle marked GME 76 XD containing a total of 373,420 pills of opioids including tramadol and diazepam.

Also, operatives in Ogun State last Wednesday raided the home of a drug dealer, Ifeanyi Orji, in Ibafo area of the state where 81,000 tablets of tramadol 225mg weighing 32.4 kilogrammes were recovered.

In Adamawa State, NDLEA operatives last  Tuesday recovered 60,000 pills of tramadol from a suspect, Ibrahim Abba, 25, who was travelling in a commercial Toyota Starlet car from Kalaa village to Mubi. 

Equally in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, operatives intercepted two consignments of skunk with a gross weight of 1, 242.1 kilogrammes. 

The first consignment of 665.1 kilogrammes was seized from a truck around Area 3 on Sunday, 20th August, while the second one, weighing 577 kilogrammes, was recovered during a stop and search operation along Lokoja- Abaji expressway same day. 

The consignment was concealed in Jumia goods delivery packs inside a container Mercedes truck, whose driver, Yusuf Yakubu Asokomhe, and his assistant, Tunde Ogundare, were arrested.

In Kwara State, operatives on patrol along Jebba – Minna road last Tuesday intercepted a commercial truck conveying goods from Lagos to Katsina with 37.5 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa hidden among other items.

The driver, Abdulazeez Usman, and his assistant, Halidu Musa, were arrested for further investigation.

Similarly, In Yobe State, NDLEA operatives last Wednesday intercepted an ash colour Sharon Galaxy vehicle marked AKK 484 XA along Potiskum-Gombe road coming from Baissa, Kurmi Local Government Area of Taraba State. 

Three suspects in the vehicle — Ya’u Yahuza, 30; Yahaya Muhd, 29, and Tanimu Salisu, 20 — were arrested with 133 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 62 kilogrammes.

Operatives in Edo State last Thursday stormed the Uzebba forest in Owan West Local Government Area of the state, where they arrested Esazobor Ohioze, 33, with 54.3kgs cannabis recovered from a hut while about three hectares of cannabis farms were destroyed.

Babafemi said efforts by transnational drug cartels to move a consignment of 117 grammes of ketamine neatly concealed in a pair of leather male slippers being shipped to Indonesia and 2.14 kilogrammes of skunk clinically hidden in the walls of a local wooden drum, were equally frustrated by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) attached to courier firms in Lagos.

The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd), while commending the efforts of the officers and men of the NAIA, Gombe, Ogun, Adamawa, FCT, Kwara, Yobe and Edo Commands, as well as those of DOGI for a job well done in the past week, charged them and their colleagues across the country to intensify their drug supply reduction operations and equally balance that with drug demand reduction activities.