Agents of the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency have seized shipments of Colorado concealed in automobiles imported from Montreal, Canada, as well as packages of cannabis juice flown in from South Africa, at the Murtala Muhammed International and the Tin Can Seaport, Apapa, in Lagos.
Femi Babafemi, the director of media and advocacy, revealed this on Sunday and stated that the consignments were intended for distribution prior to the Christmas holiday season.
In connection with the two seizures and the recovery of 152 kilograms of skunk from two dealers in Kano, at least 12 suspects, including two dock employees and a wine shop proprietor, have so far been detained.
In Imo state, 100,000 Tramadol tablets and 520 kg of cannabis concealed in soft drink containers loaded into a truck headed for Abuja, the country’s Federal Capital Territory, were also found.
He said,
“At the SAHCO import shed of the Lagos airport, the search of consolidated cargo from South Africa led to the discovery of smuggled bottled Cannabis juice with a gross weight of 16.50kgs on Wednesday 21st December.
“Investigations by anti-narcotics officers subsequently led to the arrest of four freight agents: Soremekun Olalekan Wasiu; Olufisayo Dayo; Moruf Olusegun Bashir and Imole Moses Ajayi, whose statements eventually led to the arrest of the consignee, a wine shop business owner, Emebede Chuka, the following day Thursday 22nd December”.
“Also, an attempt to export quantities of cannabis and ecstasy pills also known as MDMA concealed in beverage drink, Bournvita, containers to Dubai, UAE, through the NAHCO export shed on Friday 23rd Dec was frustrated while a vulcaniser given the assignment for a fee of N4,000, Iyanda Ogunleye Yaya has been arrested,,
In the same vein, during a joint examination of a container at the Tincan harbor, Lagos, 185 packets of cannabis indica, also known as Colorado and weighing 61.3kgs, were seized.
It was discovered that the container with the marking MSCU5206726 from Montreal, Canada, actually contained only two vehicles, a 2009 Toyota Corolla and a 2009 Ford Econoline bus, along with used car engines, bicycles, shoes, and other items, including drugs. The container was declared to contain three units of used vehicles.
Following their first detention by Port Security and the Police, two dock employees, Abdulquadri Abdulazeez and Ogbuji Kenneth, are already in NDLEA custody in connection with the seizure.
Two suspects, Nura Zakariya’u and Alkasim Abubakar, were detained in Kano along the Zaria-Kano road, Kwanar Dangora, with 161 blocks of cannabis weighing 152 kilograms and various quantities of Exol and Codeine-based syrup, while Amaechi Johnson, another suspect, was apprehended in Imo state while traveling to Onitsha, Anambra state, with a total of 100,000 tramadol pills
