“Two popular drug lords from Qatar have been arrested at Lagos International Airport”
Two Qatar-based drug lords, Eyah Nnamdi and Ugwuoke Oluchukwu, were apprehended by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency agents after their methamphetamine shipment was intercepted at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos.
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On June 8, Ugwuoke was arrested during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways passengers at the Lagos airport’s Terminal 2 departure point.
In a statement issued on Sunday, NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi stated that officers discovered the suspect was travelling to Doha with an Ivorian international passport bearing the name Hien Narcisse.
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“Further examination of his black carry-on luggage revealed a false bottom concealment of two parcels of crystalline substance that tested positive to methamphetamine weighing 1.00kg,” Babafemi said. According to preliminary investigations, the suspect is a Nigerian who went to obtain an Ivorian passport for his travels.
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“He admitted that he travelled to Qatar in August 2022 and returned about two months ago to finalise arrangements for the movement of the drug consignment.”
“An additional investigation led operatives to discover that his Qatar-based senior partner in the trade, simply known as Murphy, was lurking around in Eziani, his home town in Nsukka LGA, Enugu State.” Ugwuoke, who is from the State’s Igboeze North Local Government Area, claims to have a National Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the Federal Polytechnic Oko.
“On June 10, an immediate deployment of NDLEA operatives to Eziani community of Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State resulted in the arrest of ‘Murphy,’ whose true identity was later revealed to be Eyah Celestine Nnamdi, who had lived in Indonesia for some years before relocating to Doha, Qatar.”
In the same vein, anti-narcotic officers arrested a female chemist, Ikwebe Ori, in Kaduna State after she attempted to purchase and distribute six cartons of pentazocine injection with 2,000 ampules using forged documents.
She admitted using forged documents from a Kaduna hospital to obtain the drug, which she intended to distribute in Kaduna, Abuja, and Sokoto.
The consignment was initially intercepted at the MMIA’s local wing in Ikeja while being delivered to Kaduna by a goods agent.
In two raids, NDLEA agents in Niger state seized a total of 1,072 kilogrammes of cannabis. On Thursday, June 15, 726kg of the illicit substance was discovered at the Oyoyo filling station on the Kaduna-Abuja express road, where four suspects were apprehended: Aminu Mohammed, 50, Nasiru Mohammed, 30, Rabiu Haruna, 29, and Hamza Abubakar, 18.
The next day, operatives stopped a Mercedes 1422 truck labelled MKD 116ZM on its way from Umunede, Delta state, with gallons of palm oil to be delivered at Abuja’s Garki market.
Babafemi stated that the truck driver, Jekwe Udenze, 38, and his two assistants, Gabriel Nzekwube, 43, and Chima Uzoma, 42, stopped in Uromi, Edo State, and loaded 19 jumbo bags of cannabis weighing 346kg, to be delivered to Ignatius Mokwe, 47, at Dumez Luxury Park along Kaduna road, Suleja.
The driver, his two assistants, and the owner of the illegal consignment, Ignatius Mokwe, have all been arrested.
Meanwhile, in the last week, 30.9 hectares of cannabis farms were destroyed in Delta, Edo, and Ondo. On Monday, June 12, NDLEA operatives assisted by soldiers destroyed 18 hectares of cannabis farms in Umuchime village, Ogume, Ndokwa West LGA.
Two men and two women were arrested on the farms: Kingsley Atuola, 40, Okikiolu Adekunle, 44, Osai Doris, 40, and Ublenu Joy, 28.
In Edo state, operatives stormed Awakpa forest in Owan West LGA, arresting one Malachy Amaechi, Nanmua Peter, Ojo Momoh, Afam Luke, and John Danladi inside a hut located on 2.5 hectares of cannabis farm, which was destroyed and 102 kilogrammes of the substance already harvested recovered.
Another farm measuring 1.294870 hectares was also destroyed, bringing the total number of farms destroyed to 3.978217 hectares.
Similarly, on Saturday, June 17, operatives raided the home of a dealer, Godwin Ejiro, 45, in Uyiwnendi community, Ikpoba Oka LGA, and recovered quantities of illicit drugs including cocaine, heroin, meth, swinol, and cannabis.
In Ondo state, John Emmanuel, 30, was apprehended at Ofosu with 81kg cannabis, while operatives also apprehended one Gideon Akoh at Ala forest, where nine hectares of farm were destroyed and 12kg harvested substance recovered.
“While 93.7kg of the psychoactive substance was evacuated from an Enugu metropolis shop on Saturday, June 17, a wanted notorious dealer, Kwada Vendi, 37, was arrested with 30.6kg cannabis on Tuesday, June 13 at Mamari, Maiduguri, Borno state.” On the same day, NDLEA operatives in Bauchi state recovered 87,000 tramadol and exol-5 pills from a suspect, Tony Ogbonna, 40, in Yelwa, Bauchi town.
“A total of 13,800 pills tramadol consignment abandoned by a suspect going to Geidam, Yobe State was recovered at Yankaba Park, Kano on Wednesday, June 14, while on the same day in Benue state, a suspect, Chidera Gabriel, was arrested with 22,100 pills of the same pharmaceutical opioid at an NDLEA check point in Vandeikya,” Babafemi stated.
