{"id":54585,"date":"2024-11-03T18:53:46","date_gmt":"2024-11-03T18:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=54585"},"modified":"2024-11-03T18:59:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T18:59:47","slug":"ndlea-thwarts-%e2%82%a64-4-billion-cocaine-smuggling-at-lagos-airport-interrogates-30-suspects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2024\/11\/03\/ndlea-thwarts-%e2%82%a64-4-billion-cocaine-smuggling-at-lagos-airport-interrogates-30-suspects\/","title":{"rendered":"NDLEA Intercepts Cocaine Worth \u20a64.4b at Lagos Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) recently intercepted an attempted cocaine smuggling operation valued at \u20a64.4 billion at Lagos\u2019 Murtala Muhammed International Airport.<\/p>\n

The bust involved 845 wraps of cocaine, totaling 18.72 kilograms, discovered in the lavatories of an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.<\/p>\n

The NDLEA shared details of the seizure, which was uncovered during a routine cabin cleaning after the flight landed.<\/p>\n

NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi revealed in a statement on Sunday that 30 individuals connected to the syndicate had been questioned in the course of the investigation.<\/p>\n

According to Babafemi, the cocaine had been smuggled from Brazil to Ethiopia by couriers who ingested the drug and then excreted it in Addis Ababa. The bundles were subsequently hidden onboard by other traffickers attempting to move the cargo into Nigeria.<\/p>\n

Alongside this major airport interception, NDLEA officers in Lagos also blocked other attempts to traffic drugs to destinations like Australia, the UAE, and the UK. Using hidden compartments within body creams and art pieces, drug traffickers had prepared shipments of cocaine, cannabis, and tramadol to be moved through courier services.<\/p>\n

NDLEA\u2019s extensive operations last week also led to significant hauls across other Nigerian states. At Lagos’ Apapa Seaport, NDLEA officers seized 754,000 pills of tapentadol and acetaminophen, valued at \u20a6525 million, during a joint inspection with Customs and security agencies.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

Further arrests were made nationwide, with drugs, methamphetamine, and counterfeit currency intercepted.<\/p>\n

In Abuja, officers detained Mujahid Hamisu, 24, with 147,000 tramadol pills disguised as plumbing materials, while another suspect, Seun Abimbola, was found with 512 grams of methamphetamine at Giri Junction.<\/p>\n

Kogi State NDLEA officers intercepted Mercy Ameh, 28, in possession of fake currency totaling \u20a64.35 million during a routine patrol on the Kabba-Obajana highway.<\/p>\n

Katsina State witnessed the arrest of known drug dealer Usman Abba, alias “Timaya,” with a stash of Arizona cannabis.<\/p>\n

Other arrests included a 25-year-old suspect in Kaduna, Kabiru Yusuf, caught with over 51,000 tramadol and exol pills, and multiple cannabis seizures in Edo and Ondo states, totaling nearly 1,000 kg of the illegal substance.<\/p>\n

NDLEA Chairman Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) praised the agency\u2019s officers for their recent successes, commending both their vigilant interdictions and continued efforts in public awareness campaigns through the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative.<\/p>\n

“Their dedication to intercepting these dangerous substances and educating communities is invaluable to our mission,\u201d Marwa remarked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) recently intercepted an attempted cocaine smuggling operation valued at \u20a64.4 billion at Lagos\u2019 Murtala Muhammed International Airport. The bust involved 845 wraps of cocaine, totaling 18.72 kilograms, discovered in the lavatories of an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The NDLEA shared details of the seizure, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":54592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54585"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54615,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54585\/revisions\/54615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}