Crime
NDLEA raids drug warehouse in Lagos, recovers N4.8billion worth of opioids
..Intercepts $20miilion counterfeit notes in Abuja; arrests wanted teenage bandit in Sokoto, another teenager for drugs in Enugu
Multi-billion naira worth of illicit drugs were again seized at a warehouse tucked in the midst of popular International Trade Fair Complex, Alaba, Ojo area of Lagos by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA on Saturday 19th August.
Recovered from the warehouse owned by a wanted billionaire drug baron, include: 1.4 million (1,400,000) pills of tramadol 225mg weighing 826kgs; 3.2 million (3,200,000) pills of codeine with gross weight of 3,360kgs; and 2,841 cartons of codeine syrup containing 284,100 bottles with 28,410 litres of the psychoactive substance, with a combined street value of Four Billion Eight Hundred and Twenty Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N4,820,500,000) only.
During the operation that lasted hours, a suspect, Paulinus Ojukwu, who is Chief Security Officer to the wanted drug baron who parades as automobile spare parts dealer, was arrested and now assisting ongoing investigation.
The latest drug warehouse bust is coming on the heels of the arrest of a drug baroness, Faith Ebele Nwankwo who was nabbed on Wednesday 9th August with Two Million Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand (2,750,000) pills of tramaking, a brand of tramadol 225mg and 250mg recovered from her residence at House 6, C close, 3rd Avenue, Festac area of Lagos and a warehouse located at Plot 3432 Sola Akinsola Street, Divine Estate, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives on Friday 18th August intercepted Twenty Million US Dollar notes ($20 million) suspected to be counterfeit during a stop and search operation along Abaji – Lokoja road, within the Federal Capital Territory.
The suspected fake money was recovered from a bus coming from Lagos to Abuja, while the 53-year-old driver of the vehicle, Onyebuchi Nlededin was arrested.
The previous day, Thursday 17th August, Jude Ndubuisi, 52, was arrested with 2.2 kilograms of methamphetamine during a raid operation at Kabusa village, FCT.
The suspect was initially arrested with 20.75kg cannabis on 7th July 2022 and was on court bail following his ongoing prosecution when he was nabbed for yet another drug crime.
Another raid of two notorious drug joints within the FCT: Dei Dei and Tora-Bora Hills led to the recovery of 82.8kg skunk, 1.8kg rohypnol and 1.2kg diazepam on Wednesday 16th August.
In Osun, NDLEA operatives in the early hours of Saturday 19th August destroyed clusters of cannabis farms measuring about 3.49000 hectares (over 7.5 tons) at Mopatedo in Ifedayo local government area of the State.
Two suspects: Sunday Otogbo, 40, and Peter Andel Makra, 35, were arrested inside the cannabis farms.
Additional 30kg cannabis weeds and 16.9kg of cannabis seeds were also recovered from the farms.
At least, three suspects: Ndubuisi Okorie, 44; Ebilima Emmanuel, 38, and Okechukwu Anthony Smart, 40, were arrested in connection with the seizure of 168kg cannabis consignment from them when their vehicle was intercepted along Owerri-Onitsha expressway, Imo state on Saturday 19th August.
Another shipment of controlled drugs containing 6,000 capsules of tramadol, 1,200 tablets of swinol, 155 bottles of codeine syrup and 20 tabs of Molly was equally seized on the same road on Sunday 13th August while a follow-up operation in Oyigbo area of Port Harcourt, Rivers state led to the arrest of the owner of the consignment, Remigius Ogechukwu, 33.
While a teenager, Boniface Odinakachukwu, 19, was apprehended with 99.4kg skunk at Isikwe Road, Achi in Oji-River LGA, Enugu state on Friday 18th August, a wanted teenage bandit, Aliyu Mohammed Altine, 19, was arrested by NDLEA operatives along Illela- Sokoto road with some wraps of skunk on Thursday 17th August.
The suspect who is on the wanted list of the police has since been transferred to the police in Sokoto state for further investigation.
While expressing his satisfaction with the professional conduct of the officers and men involved in the Lagos, FCT, Sokoto, Osun, Imo and Enugu operations as well as the results of the raids, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) charged operatives of the Lagos command to ensure that the fleeing baron is smoked out from his hiding to face charges.
He urged them and their colleagues across the country to intensify the heat on drug cartels.
Femi Babafemi
Director, Media and Advocacy
NDLEA Headquarters Abuja
Sunday 20th August 2023
Crime
UNIPORT final-year student jailed 14 years for internet fraud
A student of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) has been handed a 14-year sentence for internet fraud.
The undergraduate, identified as Henry Nathaniel Ekanem, was convicted before the judge A. T. Mohammed during a federal high court sitting in Rivers state on Wednesday.
Ekanem was arraigned by the Port Harcourt zonal directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The final-year student faced a seven-count charge bordering on obtaining money under false pretence and impersonation.
One of the counts reads:
“That you, Henry Nathaniel Ekanem on or about 17th September 2024, at Choba in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, with intent to defraud, did obtain the sum of twenty-two United States of America dollars ($22) from Diana Roskov by fraudulently representing yourself as Coran Capsha, manager of the singer, Chris Stapleton, a pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed offence contrary to Section 1(1) (a) and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud- Related Offences Act 2006.”
Ekanem pleaded guilty when the charges were read to him.
Given his plea, the prosecution counsel A. Abubakar tendered some documents that were admitted by the court and marked as exhibits.
He prayed the court to convict and sentence the defendant accordingly.
F. T. Fred-Boufini, counsel to the defendant, did not oppose the prayers by the prosecution.
She prayed the court to be merciful as the defendant was a first-time offender with no previous criminal records.
The judge convicted and sentenced the defendant to two years imprisonment on each of the seven counts or an option of a fine of N200,000 payable into the consolidated revenue account of the federal government.
The judge also ordered that all the phones recovered from the convict be forfeited to the government.
He said the convict shall also depose an affidavit of good behaviour before the court.
Ekanem was arrested by the EFCC in September at Choba in Port Harcourt for internet fraud and other fraud-related activities.
The convict defrauded one Diana Roskov by impersonating Coran Capsha, the manager of the singer Chris Stapleton, via social media.
Crime
NDLEA intercepts tramadol pills, codeine syrups worth N16.6bn at Lagos, Rivers ports
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives have uncovered a significant drug haul at Tincan Island Port in Lagos state and Onne Port in Rivers state.
The agency said 26,250,000 pills of tramadol and 508,400 bottles of codeine syrup with a street value of N16.68 billion were seized in separate raids.
Other drugs seized include 10 million tablets of Toradol Benzhexol and 28 plastic drums of methamphetamine weighing 700kg.
The agency also seized 2,118 pills of tramadol concealed in soles of 13 pairs of shoes.
In a statement on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said the Cyprus-bound consignment was seized at the export shed of the Lagos airport on October 12, 2024.
Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said an additional 380 tablets were recovered from the home of the alleged sender, Okenwa Uchenna, during a follow-up operation in Enugu state on 24 October.
“A cash sum of N968,880 and a Toyota Avalon car marked UWN 389 AS were also recovered from the suspect at the time of his arrest,” Babafemi said.
A 40-year-old suspect, Tsolaye Eburajolo, was also arrested in connection with a cannabis seizure in the Ago Palace area of Lagos.
Babafemi said a “bribe of N10 million” allegedly paid to NDLEA officers to free the suspect has been kept as evidence for prosecution.
He added that on October 25, NDLEA operatives raided the Igbo-Igunuko shrine at Alfa Beach in Ajah.
They recovered jumbo bags of Ghanaian Loud cannabis, weighing 2,760kg, and arrested two suspects — Gbenga Abiodun and Sunday Abiodun.
Another suspect, Ademola Oyelakin, was also arrested with 770kg of the same substance along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
Additionally, a total of 11,786 pills of tramadol, molly, rohypnol, and diazepam, as well as 64 bottles of codeine syrup were recovered from an underground storage at the home of suspect Muhammad Warnos Abdullahi in Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.
The NDLEA reported said he had dug a deep storage space in his room, covered it with a padlocked iron slate, a rug, and placed his mattress on top to avoid detection.
Crime
Court sentences Canadian woman to 11 years in prison for importing 35.2kg cannabis into Nigeria
A federal high court in Lagos has convicted and sentenced Adrienne Munju, a Canadian woman, to 11 years in prison for drug trafficking.
The court convicted Munju after she pleaded guilty to a two-count charge preferred against her by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Operatives of the NDLEA arrested the convict on October 3 at terminal 1 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja Lagos, during the inward clearance of inbound passengers on a KLM flight at the airport’s ‘D’ arrival hall.
Narcotic agents found 74 parcels of Canadian loud, a strong strain of synthetic cannabis, weighing 35.20 kilograms in the possession of the woman.
Munju claimed she was recruited to traffic the illicit consignment through an online platform for 10,000 Canadian dollars upon successful delivery in Lagos.
The 41-year-old said she took the offer to be able to raise money to pay for her ongoing master’s degree programme in Canada.
At the court on Wednesday, the Canadian pleaded guilty to the charges when they were read to her.
After the defendant’s pleas, Abu Ibrahim, the NDLEA prosecutor, called a witness, Angela Mba, an assistant superintendent of narcotics at the agency.
Mba narrated how the Canadian was arrested with the illicit drugs, after which she tendered some exhibits, which include two suitcases that were used in concealing the drugs, her Canadian passport, confessional statements, laboratory test analysis reports, and samples of the illicit drug. All the items were admitted as exhibits 1 to 13.
Deinde Dipeolu, the presiding judge, convicted the defendant after reviewing the facts and the exhibits.
In his allocutus before the court, Benson Ndakara, counsel to the defendant, pleaded with the court to have mercy on the convict.
“We plead for leniency on behalf of the convict, my lord,” Ndakara said.
“The convict pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity by not wasting the precious time of the court and has been very remorseful.”
After listening to the allocutus by the defendant’s counsel, Dipeolu sentenced Adrienne Munju to six years in prison on count one and five years on count two.
The judge, however, gave the convict an option of a N50 million fine on each of the two counts, amounting to N100 million.
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