Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested a suspected trans-border drug trafficker, Emeka Okoro, and another dealer, Ibrahim Bello, with cocaine weighing 1.1 kilogrammes and with street value of N264m.
The Director of Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, made the disclosure in a statement on Wednesday.
While Okoro was intercepted with 900 grams of cocaine in a commercial bus on the Abuja-Gwagwalada Road on Monday, April 26, 2021 based on intelligence, Bello was nabbed with 200 grams of the illicit drug in the Zuba area of the Federal Capital Territory on the same day through a controlled delivery operation.
The Commander of the NDLEA in the FCT, Mohammed Sokoto, said Okoro was an intending traveller to Libya through Kano and Agadez in Niger Republic with wraps of cocaine weighing 900 grams.
“The wraps of cocaine were not to be swallowed as had always been the case, but to be concealed in jerry cans of palm oil and transported through the border in Kano to Agadez and Libya. The suspect, Emeka Okoro, revealed that this had been the trend in the past months,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Kogi State Command of the agency has intercepted and seized 157.5 kilograms of skunk concealed in false panels in a Peugeot J5 bus with number plate Lagos AGL 641 XW, while a 43-year-old suspect, Christian Godwin, was arrested.
The NDLEA Commander in Kogi State, Adewunmi Alfred, said the suspect and the consignment were intercepted at a patrol point in Lokoja.
“The skunk was sourced from Ikire in Osun State and was being conveyed to Masaka in Nasarawa State before our men arrested the suspect and seized the illicit drug and the vehicle used to convey it on Monday, April 26, 2021,” Alfred stated.
The Chairman/Chief Executive, NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), commended the officers and men of the FCT and Kogi State commands of the agency for their vigilance and commitment to the task of ridding the country of illicit drugs.
“These seizures and arrests in the FCT and Kogi point to the fact that we will continue to disrupt and dismantle the drug supply networks of these unconscionable elements and deny them the benefit of their illegal trade,” Marwa said.