Numerous consignments of illicit drugs concealed in tins of Cerelac baby food and clothes have been intercepted at the Lagos International Airport and a courier firm in Lagos by the Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, while being conveyed to the United States and the United Kingdom.
No less than 36 parcels of a strong strain of cannabis concealed in six cartons of tins of branded Nestle Cerelac baby food, with six containers in each package, were recovered at the SAHCOL export shed of Lagos airport.
A statement by the spokesman of the NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, on Sunday said the psychotropic substance has a total weight of 18.50 kilogrammes.
A freight agent, Salaudeen Suliat Abiola, who presented the consignment for export to the UK, was promptly arrested, while a follow-up operation to Ibadan, Oyo State, on July 31, 2024 led to the arrest of the sender of the cargo, Bello Motunrayo Folu, at her No. 20 Mofoluwasho Estate, Elewuro, Akobo area of the Oyo State capital.
The Cerelac tins were all factory-sealed at the top while they tampered with the bottom, through which they put the substances covered with loose quantities of the infant cereal meal to prevent discovery, an effort that ended in futility as vigilant NDLEA officers were able to foil the attempt.
In the same vein, five different shipments of opioids and other psychoactive substances, such as promethazine, pentazocine, diazepam, tramadol, and morphine concealed in cloths and other items meant for export to the US and UK, were equally interrupted by NDLEA operatives in Lagos.
While one of the shipments containing 820 grammes of promethazine and pentazocine injections was going to the United States, the remaining four parcels, consisting of over two kilogrammes of opioids such as tramadol 225 mg, Molly, and NPS, were heading to the United Kingdom. They were all intercepted on July 29 at a logistics company in Lagos.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives at the Tincan port in Lagos recovered 77 packages of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, from the body compartments of four vehicles: the Toyota Highlander, Ford Explorer, Toyota Corolla, and Toyota Sienna, imported from Canada, during a joint examination of some containers with men of the Customs Service and other stakeholders on Friday.
The seized consignments have a total weight of 38.5 kilogrammes, while two suspects, Salami Abiodun Sunday and Lekan Atoyebi, assigned to clear the shipments, have been taken into custody.
While Isiagu Sunday was arrested in Mushin Ojuoye, Lagos, on August 1st, with 1,740 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 174 litres and 1,070 tablets of Molly weighing 600 grammes, no less than 50 bags of cannabis with a gross weight of 520 kg were recovered in the bush at Isuada, Owo council area of Ondo state, just as five suspects were arrested at Itaogbolu forest, Akure North LG area of the state.
The suspects nabbed in connection with the seizure of 42 kg of the same psychoactive substance include Jimoh Omotosho, Donald Obi, Emmanuel Patrick, Kayode Oluwaseun, and John Nsikan.
In Edo State, twenty-two and a half bags of cannabis weighing 220 kg were recovered from the Egbeta community in the Ovia North East area of Edo State on July 30th, while a suspect, Osayede Aghoma, was arrested. Another suspect, Ibrahim Abubakar, was nabbed on July 31st with 40 blocks of the same substance weighing 19.200 kg along the Okene-Lokoja highway in a commercial bus coming from Lagos en route to Kano.
While commending the officers and men of the various commands for the arrests and seizures, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), noted their drug supply reduction efforts balanced with WADA sensitisation activities while he charged them and their compatriots across the country to maintain the zeal and tempo.
Nigerian Tribune
