Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have uncovered several drug trafficking syndicates across the country, arresting a South African woman, with heroin at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, apprehending an alleged drug courier at the Lagos airport and seizing illicit drugs worth over ₦10.3 billion at the Apapa Seaport.
The coordinated operations have delivered a serious blow to global drug trafficking networks operating through Nigeria, the agency said.
NDLEA said a 38-year-old South African national, Will Jessica Ann was detained at the Abuja airport, after operatives found 14 big bricks of heroin secreted in her luggage.
To avoid suspicion, the suspect travelled with her three-year-old kid and tried to bypass security checks, the agency said.
She initially denied travelling with checked baggage but then conceded ownership after authorities compared the baggage tags with the claim tags connected to her passport, investigators said.
Preliminary investigations have shown that the suspect is a member of a transnational drug trafficking syndicate, allegedly run in partnership with her husband, Jan Coenraad De Jager, who is believed to be based in Cambodia where he coordinates drug trafficking activities along the Cambodia-South Africa route, the NDLEA said.
In another operation at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, the NDLEA detained Onyechere Daniel Chinadu, 48, a commercial motorcyclist, on his arrival from Madagascar.
During a search of his luggage, 87 wraps of methamphetamine were found disguised in clothing.
eventually while in detention the suspect eventually ejected 13 additional pellets of the illicit narcotic increasing the total quantity found to 100 wraps of methamphetamine.
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The suspect, according to NDLEA, said he worked as an okada rider in the Oke-Afa area of Lagos for 15 years before he was recruited into drug trafficking by a friend based in Uganda.
He claimed authorities he had taken some of the cocaine consignment in Uganda before heading to Madagascar but was refused admission by immigration officials. His would-be sponsor then sent him off to Lagos where he was apprehended on arrival.
In yet another big operation, NDLEA officers, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, intercepted almost 8,000 nylon bags of a very potent strain of cannabis, Canadian Loud, hidden in a container sent in from Canada through the Apapa Seaport, Lagos.
The agency, which assessed the street worth of the seizure at around N10.3 billion, said it was one of the greatest cannabis interceptions in recent months.
The seizure was the outcome of weeks of intelligence collection, tracking and surveillance of the consignment from Montreal, Canada before its arrival in Nigeria, the NDLEA stated.
The anti-narcotics agency also claimed that its operatives intercepted an effort to export 2.5 kilogrammes of skunk concealed in a gas compressor, which was being sent to Cyprus through a courier business in Lagos.
The agency restated its resolve to expand intelligence-led operations to dismantle drug trafficking networks and prevent Nigeria from becoming a transit point for illegal narcotics.
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