from OKORO CHINEDU in Lagos, Nigeria
Nigeria Bureau
LAGOS, (CAJ News) – TWO alleged drug kingpins have excreted a combined 125 wraps of heroin, weighing over 2,25 kg, during a crackdown against drugs by Nigerian authorities.
By this breakthrough, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has foiled efforts to smuggle consignments of the illicit through Port Harcourt International Airport and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport.
One of the individuals who uses dual identities to aid his alleged cross border movements, has a Nigerian passport with his original name, Onyekwonike Elochuckwu Sylvanus (aged 30), and that of Sierra Leone with a different name, Kargbo Mohamed Foday.
NDLEA officers have intercepted him with his Sierra Leonean passport at the Port Harcourt airport, Rivers state during the inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways flight from Doha, through Abuja.
He was subsequently taken for body scan which confirmed he ingested illicit drugs and thereafter placed under excretion observation during which he expelled a total of 62 wraps of heroin in five excretions, weighing 1,348 grams (1.3kg).
NDLEA reports he alternates his two identities for different drug trafficking missions among Thailand, Pakistan, Iran and West African countries.
NDLEA operatives have also arrested James Herbert Chinoso (48) at the Lagos airport upon his arrival from Madagascar via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
After a body scan confirmed illicit drugs in his system, he was placed under excretion observation during which he egested 63 wraps of heroin with a total weight of 909 grams.
During separate clampdowns, NDLEA also foiled attempts to smuggle into Nigeria 2,82 kilograms of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, from the United States, with Lagos the destination.
The agency also intercepted 80 ampoules of pentazocine injection 225 grams concealed in cartons heading to Canada.
Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, lauded the officers.
“Their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country, especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts are well appreciated,” he said.
– CAJ News