Mrs Ajisegiri Kehinde Sidika, a 56-year-old widow and mother of four, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, over her attempt to traffic 400grams of cocaine concealed in her footwear to Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
The agency disclosed this on Monday, 21 November, 2022, in a press release through its official website.
The suspect, who claims to be an entrepreneur selling adult and children's clothing on Lagos Island, was apprehended on Sunday, 13 November, while attempting to board a Qatar Airways aircraft bound for Saudi Arabia through Doha. Two packages of cocaine totaling 400grams were retrieved from the pair of sandals she was wearing after a thorough investigation.
Similarly, Ayoade Kehinde Tayo, a tricycle parts trader, was arrested after attempting to deliver 1kg of tramadol 225mg and rohypnol to Istanbul, Turkey through Cairo on an Egypt Airline aircraft the same day. He was at the airport to hand over the cocaine disguised inside a snack bag to an intended passenger, Idowu Ayoade, but was apprehended before he could do so.
Agbamuche Bright Nkeonye, an intended traveler to Oman on Asky Airlines, and Adeoye Oluwakemi Fatimo, who was with him, were detained on Thursday, 18 November, at the Lagos airport's departure hall after they presented a bag containing a variety of foods and body lotion that were used to conceal 1.10 kg of cannabis and some rohypnol capsules.
In a similar development, courier companies in Lagos seized at least 5.6 kilos of methamphetamine, cocaine and tramadol hidden within things like play stations, bicycles, motor propellers and local textiles intended for sale to Australia and Cyprus. In a follow-up operation connected to one of the seizures, two individuals, Gabriel Emeka and Vintura Grillo, were taken into custody.
On 12 November, NDLEA agents in Niger state arrested two suspects, Ismail Musa and Jidda Abbas, with 10,780 bottles of Akuskura, a brand-new psychoactive drug, hidden inside two Toyota Camry saloon cars with the license plates AGL 861 GS Lagos and KMK 118 SC Bayelsa. The shipment was being distributed in Abuja when it was loaded in Ibadan, Oyo State.
While agents seized 25,000 tramadol capsules in Plateau and detained the owner, Ifeanyi Nweanwe, a beer shop owner, in a follow-up operation in Bauchi, agents also seized prescription opioids valued more than N30 million on Thursday, 18 November, in a commercial bus in Asaba, Delta state.
In response to the recent arrests and seizures, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), CON, OFR, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, praised the officers and personnel of the MMIA, Tincan, Delta, FCT, Niger, Ondo, and Plateau Commands as well as those of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations, DOGI, for their fervor, dedication, and outstanding efforts to achieve success in their domains of responsibility. He exhorted them, together with their fellow citizens all around the nation, to remain steadfast in the pursuit of the agency's corporate objective.
