NDLEA operatives have arrested a 55-year-old Lagos businessman over the alleged attempt to export 3.30 kilograms of cocaine concealed in cartons of food items destined for the United Kingdom.
The agency identified the suspect as Onuigbo Ndubisi Chinedu, a clothing trader at Balogun Market, Lagos Island. According to the NDLEA, he was arrested on Thursday, July 23, after officers intercepted the suspected cocaine at the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport a day earlier.
NDLEA said investigations initially led to the arrest of three cargo agents and another suspect, Kenneth Okakpu, whose interrogation helped investigators trace the shipment to Chinedu. The agency alleged that he was arrested while attempting to send another consignment to the UK.
In a related operation, the NDLEA said it arrested a 31-year-old entrepreneur, Emmanuella Chukwu-Edo, at her Surulere residence after officers intercepted a parcel containing 2.80 kilograms of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, allegedly shipped from the United States.
The agency also announced several other seizures across the country, including Tapentadol tablets worth more than ₦2.2 billion at the Lagos airport, cannabis concealed in vehicles at Apapa Seaport, and operations in Edo and Katsina states. NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers involved in the operations and urged them to sustain the agency’s anti-drug enforcement efforts.
Hadizat Giwa