metro

NDLEA nabs 44-year-old man for ingesting 96 pellets of cocaine at Abuja airport

Published

2 years ago

December 6, 2021

Gabriel Anthony Patrick

Arrests five varsity students, 72-year-old man, others over 5,721.92kg drugs

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 44-year-old father of three, Gabriel Anthony Patrick at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja for ingesting 96 pellets of cocaine, which he excreted in the custody of the agency.

Patrick, a native of Nike in Enugu North Local Council of Enugu State, was arrested on Friday, November 26, during an outward clearance of Turkish Airline at the boarding screening area of the airport enroute Abuja-Istanbul-Madrid.

According to a statement by NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, yesterday, the suspect had travelled to Germany in 1996 for two years on asylum, after which he relocated to Spain in 1999 where he currently holds a residence permit and works as a driver in a food manufacturing company.

He claimed he came into Nigeria on November 17 to sell clothes and car spare parts he shipped to Lagos earlier. Patrick however said he couldn’t sell his consignments, which cost him 4,000 Euros excluding the cost of shipment because they were priced below the cost price at Ladipo market in Lagos and he needed to travel back to Spain to resume work after the expiration of his annual leave.

READ ALSO:

This, he said, led him to accept an offer to traffic the drug for which he would be paid 1,500 Euros when he successfully delivers the consignment to someone in Spain.

He claimed he left Lagos for Enugu to see his family members, and then travelled on November 25 to Onitsha, Anambra State where he was picked from Upper Iweka park at night and taken to a house where he was given the 96 pellets of cocaine to ingest before leaving for Abuja to board his flight to Madrid the following day.

ALSO, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos have arrested one Okorie Godwin Onyeribe over his attempt to export 21.85kg of cannabis concealed in foodstuff to London. He was nabbed at the NAHCO export shed of the airport on Friday, December3.

SIMILARLY, five students of American University of Nigeria, Yola, Adamawa and University of Maiduguri, Borno State were among suspects arrested for drug offences in raids across nine states in the last week.

Babafemi said two of the students, Emmanuel Thlama and Jonah Joshua were arrested with 16.750kg cannabis on the night of November 30, when operatives raided a settlement opposite Gate 4 of the University of Maiduguri.

He gave the names of the other three, all AUN undergraduate students, as, Ekene Asher, Daniel Alkali and Emmanuel Smooth who were arrested at 11:30p.m. on Thursday, December 2, after taking delivery of Loud, a strong variant of cannabis ordered by Ekene for them to smoke.

Earlier same day, Babafemi said, operatives also intercepted a motorised concrete mixer truck used to conceal 2000.6kg of cannabis, loaded at Ogbese in Ondo State.

READ ALSO:

He said: “Two suspects arrested with the drugs, Matthew Donuwe and Friday Nborgwu claimed they have spent a month on the road from Ondo State, hoping to deliver the consignment in Mubi, Adamawa before they were arrested at Girei in Girei Local Council of the state.

“In Oyo State, operatives intercepted 608.40kg of cannabis sativa concealed in a black Toyota Sequoia SUV with registration number Lagos MUS 553 GN and parked around toll gate area, Ibadan-Ife Expressway, Egbeda Local Council in Ibadan on Friday, December 3.

“The following day, operatives equally seized 85.90kg cannabis recovered from the boot of a Nissan Primera car, marked Lagos FJK890DZ and in one of the rooms of an apartment where search operation was carried out at Adegbayi area, Alakia, Egbeda Local Council.

“Those arrested in connection with the seizure include, Benson Uzoka, 46; Kafayat Adeyemi Uzoka, 40; Ndidi Uzoka, 39 and Christopher Uzoka, 42.

“While the duo of Praise Emmanuel and Aminu Aliyu were arrested with 228kg cannabis in Kano, operatives in Taraba stormed cannabis farms in Changso village, Kurmi LGA, located on the mountains between Nigeria and Cameroon, evacuated 364kg of the illicit drug and set the rest on fire. Equally, ThankGod Danladi who has just finished a jail term in October was arrested on Wednesday 1st December with 67 kg cannabis in another raid in the state.

“In Niger State, operatives intercepted a commercial bus with 215 kg cannabis concealed in a false bottom and side door of the bus, along Mokwa – Jebba road.

“Two suspects, a driver and his conductor were arrested and they claimed to have loaded the consignment in Ogere, Ogun State and were heading to Sokoto as their final destination.

“In Delta State, a lady Tina Ujene was arrested in Ibusa with 1.1kg cannabis while a follow up raid on her supplier’s home led to the recovery of 54.7kg of the same substance.

READ ALSO:

“Different quantities of cannabis, Methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, Diazepam and Exol-5 were seized in raids at AP- Eleme and Garki, Oil Mill areas of Port Harcourt, as well as Lewe and Kadiri in Gokana LGA, Rivers state on Friday 3rd Dec. In Ondo state, a 72-year-old Emmanuel Akanbi was arrested at Odofin camp, Uso, Owo LGA with 2,050kg cannabis.

“Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), has commended officers and men of the agency for their recent efforts.

“He charged them along with their colleagues in other commands to constantly focus on raising the bar of their achievements until the last gram of illicit drug is taken away from every community in Nigeria.”

Guardian

Related Topics:abuja Airport Cocaine Featured ingesting NDLEA pellets

Up Next

Dowen College: Senator Kashamu’s family speaks on son’s involvement in Sylvester death

Don't Miss

Kidnap victim rescued, gang member arrested during disagreement on Europe-returnee‘s abduction

metro

BREAKING: PDP secretary shot dead in his residence [PHOTO]

Published

17 mins ago

April 16, 2024

Trends Admin

Alhaji Musa Ille

BREAKING: PDP secretary shot dead in his residence [PHOTO]

Gunmen suspected to be terrorists have killed the secretary of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State, Alhaji Musa Ille.

The deceased was said to have been shot dead by the terrorists in front of his residence in Tsafe on Monday.

“The late Musa Ille was one of our good and God fearing neighbors, he was killed him in front of his house,” a resident told SaharaReporters.

Zamfara is one of states in the Northern region plagued by criminals known as bandits who raid and loot villages, kill residents and burn houses to the ground.

READ ALSO:

The gangs maintain camps in a huge forest straddling the state, Katsina, Kaduna, and Niger states, and have carried out mass kidnappings of students from schools in recent years.

Recently, another prominent PDP chieftain in Zamfara, Alhaji Shafiu Abubakar, along with two others were killed near Danbaza junction and Maradun town, the headquarters of Maradun local government area.

Abubakar was murdered while pursuing his ambition to contest the chairmanship seat of Maradun Local Government Area council in the upcoming local government elections.

BREAKING: PDP secretary shot dead in his residence [PHOTO]

Education

22 Zamfara varsity students, staff members released after six months in captivity

Published

2 hours ago

April 16, 2024

Trends Admin

22 Zamfara varsity students, staff members released after six months in captivity

Twenty-two abducted students and staff members of the Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State, have finally been released after six months in captivity.

The victims, comprising 15 students and seven workers of the university, were abducted from the university in September 2023.

They were received on Monday April 15 in Abuja by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.

The captives were released in three batches, with the last batch returning home on Sunday April 14.

Ribadu said the rescue operation was coordinated by the National Counter-Terrorism Centre.

He urged them not to allow their experience to break them, but should rather make them stronger.

He said, “On behalf of the President, I thank all those involved in the successful rescue of the victims without losing anyone of them or paying any ransom.

“This is yet again a success story in our efforts to free all those being unlawfully held in captivity.

“We have so far released over a thousand of such victims without noise and with complete respect to their privacy and safety.

“This occasion marks a final juncture in a series of rescues we have undertaken in the last few months, to free victims of recent cases of mass abductions.

“Going forward, we are strengthening law enforcement and security measures to prevent these abductions, and strengthen physical security across vulnerable communities.”

National Coordinator, NCTC, Maj.-Gen. Adamu Laka, recalled that those rescued were abducted from the school on September 22, 2023, at about 0230hrs.

He said the bandits armed with various weapons attacked three off-campus students’ hostels at Sabon Gida in Gusau and kidnapped a number of female students alongside some male artisans.

Others, he said, were a private security guard and a protocol officer of the university.

He added that the bandits ransacked the hostels, and carted away foodstuffs, mobile phones, laptops, ATM cards, cash and other valuables.

According to him, the abductees were subsequently herded on motorcycles and foot to a location through a town in the Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara.

Laka said, “Search and rescue was conducted by a combined team of law enforcement agencies and the abductees were subsequently released in three batches, after 207 days in captivity.

“The first batch was rescued on March 15 while the second batch was rescued on April 12 and the last batch was rescued on April 14.

“All the abductees were profiled at the NCTC while the ONSA Medical Team examined them and administered minor treatments on the bruises sustained by 3 of the abductees.”

Education

Oromoni’s death natural but avoidable, coroner rules

Published

12 hours ago

April 15, 2024

Trends Admin

Oromoni’s death natural but avoidable, coroner rules

Sylvester Oromoni died of a natural cause and not due to any action by his school, Down College, or accused five students of the college.

This is the verdict of a coroner, Mikhail Kadiri, who presided over the matter on Monday during a seven-hour magistrate court sitting in Ogba, Lagos.

The judgement coming after a two-year inquiry, affirmed that the 12-year-old died of sepsis emanating from an infection of the lungs and kidney due to an ankle injury.

The coroner however said his death was an avoidable case of parents and medical team’s negligence.

Sylvester Oromoni Junior who was a student of Dowen College in Lekki, Lagos, died on November 30, 2021.

The coroner cleared the five students of the college accused in the case, ruling that they played no part in the death of Sylvester and should not have been involved in the matter.

He also advised parents not to take their children’s health with levity.

The magistrate also called for better cooperation between the police and medical team and that the police must exercise caution before making arrests in the future.