Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted multiple consignments of illicit drugs ingeniously concealed in frozen snails, rechargeable bulbs, and women’s clothes, bound for the United States, United Kingdom, and Democratic Republic of Congo.
The seizures, made at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport and a courier company in Lagos, led to the arrest of two suspects.
On October 7, NDLEA officers arrested Boladale Riliwan, a cargo agent, after discovering 15 parcels of cannabis (skunk) hidden inside 10 rechargeable bulbs destined for the DRC.
Five days later, on October 12, a 48-year-old UK-based Public Health Assistant, Olawale Oyebola Hakeemot, was apprehended at Lagos Airport’s Terminal 2 with 2,300 Tramadol 225mg tablets concealed in frozen snails, en route to Manchester.
Similarly, on October 16, officers foiled an attempt to ship 810 bromazepam pills hidden in women’s clothing to the United States.
In Adamawa State, Bello Buba was caught at an NDLEA checkpoint in Yola South with 38,270 tramadol tablets hidden inside the spare tyre, boot, and door compartments of his vehicle. The drugs were traced to Benin Republic.
The agency also destroyed 53,250 kilograms of cannabis across 21.3 hectares of farmland in Ilawe Ekiti and seized another 1,140 kilograms in operations across Ekiti and Ondo States.
Further arrests and recoveries were made in Oyo, Ogun, Imo, Enugu, and Lagos, where 117 kilograms of skunk were seized in Mushin and 80,000 bottles of codeine syrup imported from India were intercepted at Apapa Port.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers for their diligence, urging sustained vigilance and balance between enforcement and preventive sensitisation under the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) programme.
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