*Intercepts N16.1bn Opioids, Arrests Octogenarian, Community Leader’s Wives, Son

THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has apprehended an ex-convict, Christian Ogbuji, for importing 817 wraps of cocaine, weighing 19.40kg, with an estimated value of N4.6billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos State.

According to a statement by NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, in Abuja, the arrest came barely 16 months after Ogbuji was arrested and convicted for ingesting 93 pellets of cocaine.

He stated that the 48-year-old businessman was first arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) in Abuja on Wednesday, May 10, last year, upon arrival from Uganda via Addis Ababa, on board Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 951, for ingesting 93 pellets of cocaine with a gross weight of 1.986kg.

Babafemi said the suspect was arraigned before Federal High Court 12 in Abuja, presided over by Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon, in charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/192/2023, and convicted on July 13, last year, and sentenced to two years imprisonment, with an option of paying a fine of N3million, which he paid and was set free.

The court also ordered the forfeiture of the seized 1.986 kilograms cocaine, his international passport, $14 and 9000 Uganda Shillings found on him at the time of his arrest.

“Not done with crime, Ogbuji was again arrested at the Lagos airport on Wednesday, September 18 during an inward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines flight passengers from Addis Ababa to Lagos.

“The suspect had approached the joint examination table with a black travelling bag, which was searched by an NDLEA operative who cleared the luggage.

“In a dubious move, Ogbuji sneaked back to the carousel area to put inside the cleared bag a black backpack he left on the conveyor’s belt. As he made his way out of the arrival hall, vigilant NDLEA officers intercepted him and subjected him to a secondary search.

“It was then large wraps of excreted cocaine were found concealed inside the backpack hidden in the black travelling bag that was earlier found with the suspect, Babafemi disclosed.

He explained that during an interview with the suspect, he stated that he initially left the backpack containing the drug at the carousel area as a strategy to beat NDLEA operatives, but never knew there could be a secondary search, since he had presented his bag for search earlier and nothing incriminating was found.

“The suspect claimed he had to procure a new international passport to continue his criminal trade.

“Investigation revealed Ogbuji is an unrepentant kingpin within the network of drug cartels operating among Brazil, Ethiopia, Nigeria and others in the West African sub-region, like Benin, Togo, Ghana, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire,” he said.

     In a related development, the NDLEA spokesman said a total of 817 pellets of cocaine excreted by many traffickers in Addis Ababa, weighing 19.40kg, belonging to different members of a drug cartel were recovered.

Operatives of the Agency intercepted and seized a total of  25 million pills of tapentadol, an opioid three times stronger than tramadol, and 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup at the Tincan Port complex in Lagos between Tuesday, September 17 and Friday, September 20 from three containers that had been on the watchlist of the Agency, following processed intelligence.

As a result, the NDLEA had requested for 100 per cent joint examination of the shipments with men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other security agencies.

The 25 million pills of tapentadol have an estimated street value of N13,725,000,000, while the codeine consignment has an estimated street value of N2,450,000,000, bringing the total value of the seizures to N16,175,000,000.

Meanwhile, operatives of the Lagos State Strategic Command of the Agency on Friday, September 20, arrested an 80-year-old grandfather, Aremu Shojobi, with 14 kilogrammes of cannabis at his home in Iyana-Ipaja area of the state.

Shojobi, in his statement, claimed to have been in the business of selling illicit drugs for 25 years, adding that he gets his supplies from Benin Republic and sells to his customers from his residence between 7am and 10pm every day.

     Similarly, NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Wednesday September 18, raided the two homes of a community leader and Sarkin Yamma of Badagry West Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Talba, where a total of 226kgs of cannabis were recovered from his two wives and son.

Though Talba was at large, a search of his house in Ashipa area of Seme, Badagry, led to the recovery of 93 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa, weighing 57.6kgs, from his first wife, Asma’u Bashiru, 35, and son, Sadat Bashiru, 22, while another search of his house at Aketegbo in the same area led to the seizure of 302 compressed blocks of cannabis, weighing 168.6kgs, from his second wife, Hauwa Bashir, 42.