Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted 200 kilogrammes of illicit substances from suspected traffickers at three airports.
The defiant traffickers had attempted to export the hard drugs through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano, the spokesperson for the agency, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
At the Lagos airport, 41-year-old Adewuyi Olayinka was arrested while trying to export 650 grammes of cocaine wrapped in two parcels to the United Kingdom through the SAHCO export shed of the MMIA cargo in Ikeja.
The NDLEA Commander at MMIA Command, Ahmadu Garba, explained that the drug was concealed in dry local pepper and herbal concoction.
Elsewhere, 107 kilogrammes of hard drug suspected to be khat was seized at the cargo shed of the Kano Airport while being exported to Canada.
According to the Acting NDLEA Commander at the airport, Mohammed Ajiya, the drug was concealed in golden colour nylon bags covered with textile materials and labelled tea, to deceive and mislead the operatives.
“The so-called tea arose the suspicion of officers at the cargo shed who insisted that it must be subjected to laboratory analysis and test before it will be allowed to go, because the so-called tea came from Lagos by road to Kano and our operatives wondered why the owner did not ship it via Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos.
“Hence, the reason the shipment was delayed until the sample was taken and sent to our forensic lab for analysis; the result came out positive for khat, it has since been seized and is now in our custody,” Ajiya said.
In the nation’s capital, NDLEA operatives foiled an attempt by a suspected trafficker to export 92.250 kilogrammes of khat via Turkish Air through the cargo warehouse at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
Kabir Sani Tsakuwa, who is the NDLEA Commander at the Abuja Airport, noted that the hard drug packed in six cartoons was heading to Goussainville in France.
He said the clearing agent processing the consignment for export claimed the cargo was dried moringa leaves as stated in the airway bill but upon laboratory tests, it turned out to be hard drug.
In his reaction, the Chairman of the anti-drug agency, Brigadier-General Buba Marwa, commended the commanders and operatives of the three international airports for their vigilance and efforts to secure Nigerians and citizens of destination countries from the menace of illicit drugs.
