Two Pakistani nationals and a blind Niger Republic citizen were arrested for trafficking cocaine in Nigeria.
The Nigerien was taken into custody in Katsina, according to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, while the Pakistanis were arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.
Asif Muhammed, 45, and Hussain Naveed, 57, were caught with eight kilograms of cocaine hidden in a public address system as they tried to board a Qatar Airways flight to Lahore, Pakistan via Doha, according to a statement from NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi on Sunday.
“On November 4th, workers at the airport’s SAHCO import shed seized 13 cartons of Tramadol 225mg and 200mg that were brought in from Karachi, Pakistan. The shipment contains 642,800 pills of pharmaceutical opioids and weighs a total of 465,10 kg.
A shipment of various illicit drugs, including cannabis, cocaine, and methamphetamine as well as Tramadol 225mg and a Rohypnolol, concealed in shoe and soap packages, was also intercepted the previous day, on November 3, by agents working at the airport’s NAHCO export shed. The shipment was headed to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Oladitan Serah Olufunmilayo, 32, was arrested after presenting the shipment for export.
Two businessmen who have been hiding out for months due to their involvement in drug trafficking have been apprehended by anti-narcotic officers who have been tasked with finding them. On Thursday, November 3, Nnebo Ikechukwu Christopher, who had been sought after for his involvement in the importation of 40 cartons containing 346,800 pills of Co-codamol, a type of paracetamol with codeine that had been discovered at the local airport’s cargo wing since March 2022, was taken into custody.
Agents on patrol in Katsina state arrested a blind man, Bukar Haruna, 52, and his son, Saka Haruna, 30, as they traveled to the Niger Republic with 20.5 kg of cannabis and 10 g of exol-5. They are natives of the Niger Republic’s Damagram region.
Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), CON, OFR, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, lauded the officers and personnel of the MMIA, Edo, Katsina, Adamawa, and Kaduna Commands of the Agency for the successful operations in the previous week and urged them and their counterparts throughout the nation not to rest on their oars until all drug syndicates operating in Nigeria are completely dismantled.