NDLEA Agents Intercept Drug Consignments Packed In Baby Food Tins, Clothes Heading To US, UK

Drugs in baby food tins

NDLEA operatives at Murtala Muhammed International Airport and a courier firm in Lagos intercepted multiple consignments of illicit drugs concealed in tins of baby food cans and clothes bound for the United States and the United Kingdom.

According to a press statement issued on Sunday by the anti-narcotics agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, 36 parcels of a strong strain of cannabis concealed in six cartons of tins of baby food, with six containers in each package, were recovered at the SAHCOL export shed of Lagos airport last Wednesday, with the psychotropic substance weighing 18.5 kilogrammes in total.

He stated that a goods agent, Salaudeen Abiola, who presented the consignment for export to the UK, was promptly arrested, while a follow-up operation to Ibadan, Oyo state on Saturday resulted in the arrest of the cargo sender, Bello Folu, at her No. 20 Mofoluwasho Estate, Elewuro, Akobo area of the Oyo state capital.

He also stated that the food tins were factory-sealed at the top while they tampered with the bottom, putting the substances covered with loose quantities of the infant cereal meal to prevent discovery, an effort that proved futile as vigilant NDLEA officers were able to foil the attempt.

In the same vein, NDLEA operatives in Lagos intercepted five different shipments of opioids and other psychoactive substances, including promethazine, pentazocine, diazepam, tramadol, and morphine, concealed in clothes and other items intended for export to the United States and the United Kingdom.

While one of the shipments, containing 820 grammes of promethazine and pentazocine injections, was bound for the United States, the remaining four parcels, containing more than two kilogrammes of opioids such as tramadol 225mg, molly, and NPS, were bound for the United Kingdom. They were all apprehended on Monday at a logistics company in Lagos.

Meanwhile, NDLEA agents at the Tincan port in Lagos discovered 77 packages of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, in the body compartments of four vehicles imported from Canada: Toyota Highlander, Ford Explorer, Toyota Corolla, and Toyota Sienna, during a joint examination of some containers with Customs Service agents and other stakeholders.

The seized consignments have a total weight of 38.5 kilogrammes, while two suspects: Salami Sunday, 34, and Lekan Atoyebi, 33, assigned to clear the shipments have been taken into custody, while Isiagu Sunday was arrested in Mushin Ojuwoye Lagos last Thursday with 1,740 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 174 litres and 1,070 tablets of Molly weighing 600grams, no less than 50 bags of cannabis with a gross weight of 520 kilogrammes were recovered in the bush at Isuada, Owo The suspects arrested in connection with the seizure of 42 kilogrammes of the same psychoactive substance are Jimoh Omotosho, 63; Donald Obi, 62; Emmanuel Patrick, 21; Kayode Oluwaseun, 39; and John Nsikan, 34 years old.

Last Tuesday, twenty-two and a half bags of cannabis weighing 220 kilogrammes were discovered in the Egbeta community of Ovia North East in Edo state, and a suspect, Osayede Aghoma, was arrested. Another suspect, Ibrahim Abubakar, 55, was apprehended on the Okene-Lokoja highway last Wednesday with 40 blocks of the same substance weighing 19.2 kilogrammes in a commercial bus travelling from Lagos to Kano.

He noted that, with the same zeal, Agency commands and formations across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities, among other places, over the last week.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA, Kogi, Edo, Ondo, Lagos, and Tincan Commands, as well as those of DOGI, for the arrests and seizures, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) noted their drug supply reduction efforts balanced with WADA sensitisation activities, and he charged them and their compatriots across the country to maintain the zeal and tempo.