By A human trafficker, Mathew Bassey has attempted to export illicit drug to Dubai, United Arab Emirate by planting same in the luggage of an orphan, Ms. Gift Eno Peter, has been foiled by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos.
It was discovered that the recruiter leveraged on the victims naivety and planted drugs in her bag for onward delivery to his contact in Dubai.
This was disclosed by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja on Sunday in a statement.
Bassey, 29, from Oron Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, was arrested on Wednesday 6th July, following the interception of Eno at the Departure Hall of the Lagos airport.
When Enos luggage was searched, 50 parcels of cannabis (2.80kg) concealed in food items were discovered while there were discrepancies between the age she declared and the date of birth on her international passport.
Babafemi said further interview revealed that the human trafficker, who recruited and brought her to the airport, was still lurking around the airport, waiting for her departure when he was promptly tracked and arrested.
Investigations showed that the victim, who hails from the same Oron LGA of Akwa Ibom State like Bassey, recently lost her mother and as a result made it easy for Bassey to recruit her with the promise of securing her a job in Dubai, UAE.
In a related development, the desperate bid by a drug trafficker, Aloysius Ajuruchukwu Onyekwe (a.k.a Kelvin) to travel by road to Algeria through Sokoto State with ingested 47 wraps of cocaine in his stomach has been frustrated by NDLEA.
Operatives of the agency intercepted him in Ibadan, Oyo State, following intelligence shared by the Department of State Security (DSS).
Onyekwe, 26, who hails from Owerri West LGA, Imo State, was arrested on Sunday 3rd July at Ojo Park, Ibadan, where he went to board a vehicle enroute Sokoto to Algeria.
He was said to be traveling with an 18-year-old lady, Blessing Nwoke.
The father of a 10-month-old child, who excepted the 47 pellets of cocaine in five excretions, confessed that he began his journey to Algeria from Cele area of Okota, Lagos, where he ingested the illicit drug, weighing 1.1kg.
Babafemi further disclosed that no fewer than 1,900 tablets of Tramadol 225mg were seized from a drug dealer, Mustapha Ijabula, 22, in Oyo State.
According to him, Ijabula, a native of Mubi in Adamawa State, was arrested in a Yola after an Adamawa-bound commercial vehicle was stopped for routine search along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
Yet in the same vein, in Akwa Ibom State, a trans-border trafficker, Fonkou Dassi, 31, was, on Friday 8th July, arrested with 6,000 tablets of Tramadol 225mg weighing 3kg by officers of Marine Unit of the Agency.
He was arrested when a commercial boat he boarded was intercepted and searched on his way to Cameroon.
The suspect, the agency spokesman said, concealed the recovered drugs inside indomie noodles cartons.
Babafemi also disclosed that a wanted drug dealer, Uduak Edidiong Samuel, 29, was arrested on Tuesday 5th July, after attending a court proceeding where his wife was undergoing trial for another drug case.
The suspect had abandoned a cannabis sativa exhibit weighing 9kg when his house was searched on 27th June and has been on the run since then.
He said during his arrest on Tuesday, Uduak was still found in possession of a wraps of skunk.
Furthermore, in Edo State, a notorious drug dealer, Beauty Dauda, 27, was arrested with various quantities of Meth, heroin, cannabis and crack cocaine in a densely populated slum along Lagos bypass, Benin City.
“She was arrested on Wednesday 6th July after NDLEA operatives were able to break through the ring of protection often provided her by hoodlums and touts in the area,” Babafemi further disclosed.
Meanwhile, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), has commended the officers and men of the MMIA, Oyo, Akwa Ibom and Edo commands of the Agency for staying vigilant and proactive in their areas of responsibility.
He charged them and their colleagues across the country not to rest on their oars.
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