NDLEA Intercepts Cocaine Hidden in Mortar

…Backpack Bound for China, Italy

…Arrests Notorious Drug Dealer, Bandits’ Supplier

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted consignments of cocaine concealed in a local mortar and the false bottom of a backpack, both packaged for shipment to China and Italy through a logistics company in Lagos.

The agency said operatives of its Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI) made the seizures on Thursday, July 30.

According to the NDLEA, 250 grams of cocaine was factory-fitted into the base of a local mortar destined for China, while another 500 grams was hidden in the false bottom of a backpack meant for export to Italy.

In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested a 38-year-old suspected notorious drug dealer, Ugo Gift Okonkwo, at Eagle Island, Port Harcourt, following credible intelligence. He was apprehended on Sunday, July 26, with quantities of cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine, swinol, tramadol and codeine syrup.

In a separate operation in Anambra State, officers on stop-and-search duty at the DMGS Roundabout in Onitsha intercepted a truck marked XK 131 BDG carrying 26,000 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 3,960 kilograms. The truck driver, 40-year-old Chinedu Nwanze, was arrested.

Similarly, NDLEA operatives recovered 331.84 kilograms of skunk from a Toyota Sienna bus with registration number KUJ 26 DV along the Kwale–Ughelli Expressway in Delta State on July 26.

In Nasarawa State, a 64-year-old suspect, Joseph Nwaeke, was arrested at Asso Angwan Muazu in Karu on July 28 with 68 kilograms of skunk and 29 grams of methamphetamine.

Meanwhile, in Zamfara State, operatives intercepted 27-year-old Sani Umar along the Zaria–Gusau Highway with 7,400 pills of tramadol 225mg suspected to be intended for supply to criminal elements and bandits operating in the area.

Beyond enforcement operations, the agency said its commands nationwide sustained the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign through sensitisation programmes in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities. Awareness lectures were held at Hausawa Special Primary School in Kano, Royal Crown School in Oluyole, Ibadan, Government Secondary School, Ibi in Taraba State, and for drivers at Challenge Bus Terminal Park in Ibadan, among other locations.

Commending the officers involved in the successful operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), urged personnel across the country to remain committed to the agency’s balanced strategy of drug supply reduction and public education in the fight against illicit drug trafficking and abuse.