Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have intercepted a shipment of 24.5 kilograms cannabis indica to Nigeria from Montreal, Canada.
The officials, who said they were offered the sum of N8 million as bribe by the arrested importer, Cedrick Maduweke, at the Tincan Port in Lagos, refused the offer but secured it in an account for the prosecution of the case.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by Femi Babafemi, director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA.
According to Babafemi, Maduweke is still at large, but Steve Isioma Adigwe, one of his aides, has been taken into custody.
The shipment was concealed inside a used Toyota Sienna automobile that arrived at the port with three other vehicles in a container with the MSMU 5082733 marking.
In a related development, NDLEA agents in Kano, arrested a man known as Kabiru Abdulhamid, in the Semugu area with 119 blocks of C/S, weighing 73 kg.
Also during surveillance operations in FESTAC town and Lagos Island areas of Lagos State, the agency seized 28,400 tramadol tablets and over 230 kg of cannabis.
Some of the traffickers, who posed as dispatch riders caught and detained in connection with the illegal substances were Rukayyat Eshinlokun, Pelumi Alejo and Banna Maina.
Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (Retd) and Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA commended officers and personnel at Tincan, MMIA, DOGI, Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, and Imo Commands for the arrests and seizures. He urged them to step up the pressure on Nigeria’s drug gangs while balancing their efforts in reducing the supply of regulated drugs.
