The National narcotic Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has detained two Nigerians going for Europe at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for reportedly attempting to transport cocaine to France by hiding the illicit narcotic in their bodies.
The arrests were part of a nationwide crackdown that also resulted in the interception of 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition, seizure of substantial quantities of illicit substances and destruction of a cannabis farm in Edo State.
The accused – Aliocus Godian Odife and Sam Blackborn – were apprehended while clearing an Air France flight to Paris.
The NDLEA said the two males, who live in Europe and had come to Nigeria for a holiday, excreted a total of 200 wraps of cocaine weighing roughly 3.46 kilogrammes following their detention.
The Abuja airport operation was among a series of operations conducted by the anti-narcotics agency around the country.
NDLEA operatives have arrested two commercial buses in Lagos with almost a tonne of skunk, a strong form of cannabis.
Operatives in Oyo State also apprehended two individuals said to be loading 554 kilogrammes of cannabis into a vehicle. The agency also continued to work in an effort to find another suspected drug dealer who escaped during a previous operation.
Operatives in Kano recovered hundreds of thousands of tablets of banned narcotics, while other operations in Ondo and Edo states resulted to the recovery of large quantities of cannabis.
The agency reported that more than 4,000 kilogrammes of cannabis cultivation were destroyed at a plantation in Edo state.
In a related development, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Abuja-Kaduna Motorway nabbed a suspect, Aisha Isah with 266 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition.
Another operation in Kaduna State saw the arrest of a 68-year-old man, reportedly with thousands of ampoules and pills of banned drugs. Other seizures of drugs were also documented in Sokoto State.
The agency said it was sustaining its War Against Drug Abuse campaign through sensitisation programs in schools, workplaces, places of worship and communities.
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier-General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), said the current operations should serve as a strong warning to drug traffickers that there is no safe haven for those involved in the illicit drug trade.
He advised that Nigerians living abroad should not believe that their arrest and prosecution would be prevented by their being outside the nation.
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