Drug consignments hidden in imported car, food items seized at Lagos airport, seaport

…..As NDLEA busts Akuskura factory supplying Cameroon, Chad, Niger Republic in Adamawa.

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have seized 126 parcels of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing 63 kilograms concealed in a used Toyota Corolla car imported from Toronto, Canada at the Tincan port in Lagos.

This is even as an attempt by a freight agent, Mordi Chukwuemeka Samuel, to export 900 grams of the same substance, Loud, hidden inside walls of a travelling bag containing food items, to Kenya, was thwarted by NDLEA officers at the SAHCO export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos on Saturday 29th April.

When Mordi presented the bag, which he claimed contained food items for export, operatives noticed that in the course of searching the consignment, the side walls of the bag were unevenly bloated, after which they dismantled the false packings and recovered the illicit substance.

The previous day, Friday 28th April, NDLEA operatives at the Tincan port intercepted 63kg Canadian Loud packed in bags in the boot of one of the five used vehicles in a container marked, TLLU4840762 coming from Toronto via Montreal, during a joint examination with other stakeholders at the port. Similarly, men of the Agency’s Directorate of Operations and Investigation, DOGI, attached to courier firms also on Thursday 27th April intercepted 1.53kg skunk concealed in old hard drives meant for export to Dubai, United Arab Emirate.

In Benue, operatives recovered 859 bottles of Codeine based Syrup weighing 117.3kg abandoned by a suspected dealer about two kilometers away from NDLEA check point along Enugu – Otukpo road on Wednesday 26th April, while two suspects: Kabiru Muhammed, 35, and Isah Muhammed, 28, were arrested with 20 blocks of cannabis weighing 11.2kg concealed in a bag of cassava flakes (garri) along Zaria-Kano road, Kano on Friday 28th April.

No fewer than seven bags of cannabis with a gross weight of 74.5kg were recovered when operatives raided an uncompleted building located in a bush in Ala town, Akure area of Ondo state just as 60kg of the same substance concealed among footwears in two jumbo sacks was recovered from one Aminu Mohammed along Ibadan – Oyo road, Oyo state while waiting to board a vehicle to Kebbi State.

In Adamawa state, NDLEA operatives on Saturday 29th April raided a clandestine factory in Mubi, where a new psychoactive substance, Akuskura, was being produced in large quantity
and distributed to Chad, Cameroon and Niger Republic. At the time of the raid, production activities were ongoing in the premises.

Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) has commended the officers and men of MMIA, Tincan, DOGI, Kano, Ondo, Oyo, Benue and Adamawa Commands of the Agency for their vigilance and professionalism in the discharge of their responsibilities. He charged them and their colleagues across the country not to rest on their oars.

Femi Babafemi
Director, Media & Advocacy
NDLEA Headquarters Abuja
Sunday 30th April 2023