JUST IN: Pakistani traders, blind Nigerien arrested with cocaine, cannabis

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested two Pakistani businessmen at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport with eight kilograms of cocaine concealed in a public address system.

The suspects, Asif Muhammed, and Hussain Naveed, were arrested while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Lahole, Pakistan.

The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, confirmed the incident in a statement on Sunday.

The statement partly read, “The two suspects, Asif Muhammed, 45, and Hussain Naveed, 57, who hold Nigerian residence permits suspected to be fake, are frequent travellers to Nigeria under the guise of doing textile business. They were arrested on Saturday, November 5, at the Lagos airport barely a week after they came to Nigeria, that is, Sunday, October 30.

“In Katsina State, operatives on patrol at Malumfashi-Zaria Road arrested a blind man, Bukar Haruna, 52, and his son, Saka Haruna, 30, while heading for Niger Republic with 20.5kg cannabis and 10 grams of exol-5. They hail from Damagram area of the Niger Republic.”

Babafemi also said operatives seized 13 cartons of tramadol 225mg and 200mg imported from Karachi, Pakistan, at the SAHCO import shed of the airport on November 4.

According to him, the consignment has a total weight of 465.10kg and 642,800 pills of pharmaceutical opioids.

“The previous day, Thursday, November 3, operatives at the NAHCO export shed of the airport also intercepted a consignment of different illicit drugs: cannabis, cocaine, and methamphetamine, as well as tramadol 225mg and rohypnol, concealed in footwear and soap packs going to UAE, Dubai.

“A 32-year-old Oladitan Serah Olufunmilayo, who presented the consignment for export, was arrested,” the statement added.

Babafemi disclosed that two wanted drug kingpins were nabbed last Thursday in Lagos.

He said, “Two businessmen, who have been on the run for months over their involvement in drug trafficking, have been arrested by anti-narcotic officers assigned to track them. Nnebo Ikechukwu Christopher was wanted for his role in importing 40 cartons containing 346,800 pills of co-codamol, a brand of paracetamol, with codeine seized at the cargo wing of the MMIA local airport since March 2022. He was arrested on Thursday, November 3rd.

“In the same vein, operatives on the trail of an automobile part dealer, Omeje Oliver (aka David Mark) since April eventually arrested him on Monday, October 31, in Enugu, where he fled after abandoning his business at Aspanda, Trade Fair Complex, Lagos. He was wanted in connection with the seizure of 600 grams of heroin concealed inside the soles of a lady’s footwear going to Liberia on April 16.

“On the same day Omeje was arrested, operatives at the SAHCO export shed of the Lagos airport intercepted 550 grams of cannabis loud concealed in machine parts going to Dubai, UAE, while the sender, Ogbure Victor Ifeanyi, was later arrested.”