An attempt by a 29-year-old South African, Erasmus Jean Pierre, to smuggle 2.6 kilograms of methamphetamine through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja was foiled by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Wednesday. The suspect was apprehended by NDLEA operatives during the outward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 404 bound for the Middle East via Addis Ababa.
Following a thorough search of the suspect’s luggage, operatives discovered concealed packs of whitish powdery substance, later confirmed to be methamphetamine. The investigation revealed that Pierre arrived in Lagos from Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, before heading to Abuja to collect the drug consignment and board his flight out of Nigeria.
The success of the NDLEA continued with three separate drug seizures across different states. In Gombe state, officers on patrol recovered a vehicle containing 373,420 pills of opioids, including tramadol and diazepam. In Ogun state, a drug dealer’s home was raided, leading to the discovery of 81,000 tablets of tramadol weighing 32.4 kilograms. In Adamawa state, 60,000 pills of tramadol were seized from a suspect traveling in a commercial vehicle.
In Abuja, NDLEA operatives intercepted two shipments of skunk, weighing a total of 1,242.1 kilograms. In Kwara state, a commercial truck transporting goods from Lagos to Katsina was found to contain 37.5 kilograms of cannabis sativa. In Yobe state, a vehicle traveling from Baissa, Taraba state, was stopped and searched, resulting in the arrest of three individuals found with 133 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 62 kilograms.
Additionally, in Edo state, a suspect was apprehended with 54.3 kilograms of cannabis recovered from a hut, and over two hectares of cannabis farms were destroyed by NDLEA operatives. The agency also thwarted attempts to smuggle ketamine and skunk, concealed in male slippers and a wooden drum, respectively.
The chairman of NDLEA, Buba Marwa, commended the efforts of the agency’s officers and instructed them to intensify their operations in reducing both drug supply and demand in the country.
