NDLEA arrests Indian businessman for smuggling codeine into Nigeria

Indian drug smuggler

An Indian businessman, Vyapak Nutal, has been arrested by the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over the smuggling of 134,700 bottles of codeine syrup into the country through the land border between Nigeria and Niger Republic in Sokoto State.

The NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, who made this known in a statement on Sunday, said the the suspect loaded the consignment into trucks in Cotonou, Benin Republic and drove through the land borders via Niger Republic before entering Sokoto State at the Illela border.

According to Babafemi, the suspect began to look for buyers for the consignment after he had settled in a hotel in Sokoto State.

He added that while the Agency’s operatives were on the suspect’s trail, officers of the Department of State Security (DSS) apprehended him and handed him over to NDLEA on Wednesday, February 10, 2022.

In a related development, attempts by drug traffickers to export large quantities of Heroin, Methamphetamine, Khat, Tramadol and Cannabis through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) as well as three courier companies in Lagos State have been frustrated by narcotic officers who intercepted the illicit consignments.

At the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, February 8, 2022, arrested one Felix Rotimi Eshemokhai with 1.75kg heroin while trying to board Royal Air Maroc to Casablanca, Morocco, while another trafficker, Okafor Emmanuel Onuzuruike, was also nabbed same day during his bid to travel on RwandAir to Dubai with 2.2kg of Cannabis concealed in food stuff.

Not less than 25 kilograms of Methamphetamine, Tramadol, Cannabis and Khat concealed in motor parts, MP3 player, speaker and fabrics heading to USA, UK, Australia, Dubai and Madagascar were seized at three major courier companies in Lagos.

In Gombe State, 31,000 capsules of Tramadol were recovered from a truck that left Onitsha, Anambra State for Mubi in Adamawa State, while the owner, Ibrahim Tukur Bage, was arrested on February 11, 2022, while attempting to escape.

This followed the arrest of a 43-year-old man, one Aliu Salami, with 143.9kg cannabis at Oke-Ata, Abeokuta South LGA, Ogun State on Wednesday, February 9.

In the same vein, a trans-border drug dealer, Shu’aibu Salisu, and his gang were arrested in Kwara State with their consignment of 578kg Cannabis meant for Niger Republic.

In Benue State, a fake security agent, Mr. Dennis Emadiong was on Saturday, February 12, 2022, arrested at NDLEA check point, Alaide, Benue with 239grams of cannabis and 10 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition while on his way from Akwa Ibom to Maiduguri, Borno State.

Another suspect, Stephen Folorunsho was also nabbed during a routine stop and search operation along Apir-Makurdi Road with 147 compressed blocks of cannabis weighing 130kg stuffed inside bales of used clothes, popularly called Okrika, on his way to Gombe State.

In Adamawa State, no fewer than 22,700 tablets of Tramadol and Exol-5 were seized in Numan area of the state from two drug dealers, Mmaduabuchibeya Kingsley and Onyeke Kenneth in separate raids on Thursday, February 10, 2022.

TheStar