Brazil returnee excretes 60 wraps of cocaine in custody – NDLEAPublished on

Udechukwu Ekene Theophilus, a returnee from Brazil, was detained by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Sunday at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos, for consuming sixty large wraps of cocaine.

According to NDLEA, the suspect first resisted having his body scanned, citing health concerns in a last-ditch effort to avoid being apprehended. He was apprehended on Sunday, January 21, 2024, during the inward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the D-Arrival Hall of the Lagos airport.

As to the agency’s report, the suspect consented to be under excretion observation and soon after entering the NDLEA observatory, he released the first batch of cocaine pellets, totaling 1.279 kg over five excretions.

Udechukwu stated he consumed the consignment in Brazil and was supposed to empty everything at the Addis Ababa airport, but he could only expel 15 pellets, which he gave to another member of his syndicate before his connecting flight to Nigeria was called, according to a statement released on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy.

Babafemi further stated that after a joint investigation with other agencies, NDLEA agents at the Lagos airport on Tuesday, January 23rd, recovered a total of twelve (12) cartons of tramadol 225mg containing 599,900 pills, weighing 385.40 kg, from an overstayed cargo at the SAHCO import shed of the Lagos airport.

The statement claimed that between July 27 and August 1, 2023, KLM Royal Dutch Airline flights from Karachi, Pakistan, brought in two batches of the tramadol cargo. But ever since, NDLEA agents have been keeping an eye on them.

In addition, he stated that on Tuesday, January 23, operatives of the Seme Special Area Command of the NDLEA apprehended a 35-year-old suspect, Sani Audu, at Maigatari town in Jigawa State, with 111.3 kg of the same substance. The suspect, Audu, had concealed 822 kg of cannabis sativa in a fuel station located in the Ashipa community along the Badagry-Seme road.

Babafemi announced additional interceptions and seizures carried out by the NDLEA. “In Yobe state, two suspects, Mohammed Usman and Adamu Ma’azu, were arrested on Saturday 27 at Damaturu motor park, Damaturu, with 49 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 50kg. Meanwhile, Paul Obor, 38, and Dennis Fuokorighe, 48, were arrested on Wednesday, January 24 at a Navy check point, Itobe, Ofu LGA, Kogi state, with 318 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 190.8 kg hidden in a gold-colored Honda Accord car with the license plate RBC 449AE. On Friday, January 26, men of the Nigeria Navy Ship, Lugard, Lokoja, handed over the Kogi state command of the Agency.

Following the discovery of an abandoned 28.1 kg of the same material in the Rijiyar Lemo region of the state on Wednesday, January 24, a 29-year-old suspect in Kano, Shamwilu Idris, was taken into custody at the Gadar Tamburawa area on Thursday, January 25.

A total of 1, 306 blocks of cannabis weighing 886 kg that were seized by the Police at Kwanar Dangora, area of the state, were transferred to the Agency on Wednesday, January 24. Another suspect, Abubakar Haruna Salisu, 24, was apprehended at Kotun Wambai, Yan Awaki, area of Kano on Friday, January 26.

He went on, “On Friday, January 26, NDLEA agents stopped a suspect named Musa Galadima’s DAF truck, which was registered GME 971 XD, at Lafiyawo along the Gombe-Buchi road. Inside, they found 87 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa, weighing 73 kg, along with 21, 346 tramadol pills, and 3,800 diazepam tablets. Aminu Ubanta, 35, of Plateau state was apprehended on Saturday, January 27, in the Layin Zana neighborhood of Jos, with 5.355 kg of cannabis.

In response to the events, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, praised the soldiers and officers of the MMIA, Lagos, Seme, Kano, Gombe, Kogi, Plateau, and Jigawa Commands of the Agency for their remarkable achievements during the previous week.

Marwa praised his counterparts in every command in the nation for stepping up their WADA advocacy lectures and striking a balance between their efforts to reduce drug supply and demand.