3 weeks ago
26
From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have foiled attempts by two drug kingpins to smuggle consignments of heroin into Nigeria through the Port Harcourt International Airport and Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
One of the kingpins, who uses dual identities to aid his cross-border movements, holds a Nigerian passport under his original name, Onyekwonike Elochuckwu Sylvanus, 30, and a Sierra Leonean passport under the name Kargbo Mohamed Foday.
This comes as the anti-narcotics agency intercepts consignments of Colorado, Loud, and Tramadol hidden in a gas cylinder and other concealments in Kano and Kogi, seizing Canada-bound opioids.
A statement by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the suspect was intercepted by NDLEA officers with his Sierra Leonean passport on Sunday, 2 February 2025, at Port Harcourt Airport, Rivers State, during the inward clearance of passengers on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha via Abuja to Port Harcourt.
He was subsequently subjected to a body scan, which confirmed he had ingested illicit drugs. He was placed under excretion observation, during which he expelled a total of 62 wraps of heroin in five excretions, weighing 1.348 kilograms.
Investigations revealed that Onyekwonike Elochuckwu Sylvanus (alias Kargbo Mohamed Foday) alternates his two identities for different drug trafficking missions between Thailand, Pakistan, Iran, and West African countries.
He claimed to have gone into the illicit drug trade full-time in 2017 after his clothing and shoe business collapsed.
The second kingpin, James Herbert Chinoso, 48, was arrested by NDLEA operatives at Lagos Airport on Saturday, 1 February, upon his arrival from Madagascar via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
After a body scan confirmed illicit drugs in his system, he was placed under excretion observation, during which he egested 63 wraps of heroin, with a total weight of 909 grams.
Chinoso had left Lagos for Madagascar on 26 January 2025 and returned via Addis Ababa after spending a week.
He claimed he went into the criminal trade after his phone accessories business in Liberia collapsed.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) intercepted two parcels of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the United States and destined for Lagos, weighing 2.82 kilograms. The interception took place at a courier firm in Lagos on Thursday, 6 February.
In another interdiction operation on the same day at a different logistics company in Lagos, anti-narcotics officers intercepted 80 ampoules of pentazocine injection, weighing 225 grams, concealed in cartons heading to Canada.
In Kano, NDLEA operatives arrested Usaini Salisu and Yahaya Mu’azu, both 23 years old, at Gadar Tamburawa along Zaria Road on Monday, 3 February, where 15,396 pills of Tramadol were recovered from a gas cylinder used to conceal the consignment.
In another operation on the same day, operatives nabbed a female suspect, Chioma Okeke, 35, with 27 blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 15kg, at the Sabon Gari area of Kano.
A consignment of 12,800 pills of Tramadol (250mg), en route to Shuwarin in Jigawa State, was intercepted by NDLEA officers on patrol along the Kabba-Obajana Highway in Kogi State on Saturday, 8 February, with a suspect, Salisu Basiru, 33, arrested.
Similarly, no fewer than 65 parcels of Colorado, a strong synthetic strain of cannabis with a total weight of 1.600kg, also heading to Jigawa State, were recovered from another suspect, Rufai Hassan, 32, at the same checkpoint on the same day.
With the same vigour, NDLEA commands and formations across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities over the past week.
These included WADA enlightenment lectures at Saint Secondary School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; Taangayar Malam Abubakar Bichi, an Almajiri school, Bichi, Kano; Federal Government Girls College, Calabar, Cross River; College of Nursing and Science, Birnin Kebbi; and Meiran Community Junior Secondary School, Abule Egba, Lagos State, among others.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA, PHIA, DOGI, Kano, and Kogi Commands for their arrests and seizures, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), stated that their operational successes, particularly their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and demand reduction, are well appreciated.
English (US) ·