Secret foreign drug
cartel operating in Nigeria has been punctured by the operatives of the
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
The cartel said to have link with barons in
Pakistan, was bust on weekend in Lagos State, when one of the foot soldiers of
the cartel entered Nigeria with 25.400kg of first class -grade heroin.
The street worth of the illicit
goods is valued at N228million.
The attempt by cartel through their agent, a suspected
Pakistani, to smuggle 25.400kg of high grade heroin into Nigeria was aborted.
The arrest of the agent was sequel to a grand tip
off volunteered to the anti-drug agency in Nigeria.
The suspect, a Pakistani student was arrested at
the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos by operatives of the
NDLEA. The drug was discovered in the suspect’s luggage during inward screening
of passengers on board Qatar airline flight.
NDLEA’s preliminary investigation showed that the suspect
left Lahore, Pakistan with the drugs to Abu Dhabi to Doha, from where he
connected to Lagos, Nigeria.
Investigations revealed that the arrested suspect
was believed to be working for a Pakistani drug cartel, which has a link in
Nigeria. “This is the largest single seizure of heroin made at the Lagos
airport since January, 2014”, Ofoyeju Mitchell stated.
However, the NDLEA Commander at the MMIA Lagos
Airport, Mr. Hamza Umar gave the name of the Pakistani as Iftikihar Muhammed
Arslan. He said. “A 19-year-old
Pakistani by name Iftikihar Muhammed Arslan was found in possession of 25
parcels of brownish substance that tested positive for heroin weighing 25.400kg
at the arrival hall. The drug was hidden in a smaller bag inside his luggage”. The
commander noted that the suspect is cooperating with the Agency’s team of investigators.
The Pakistani, national speaks English fluently
without interpreter and has volunteered in his statement that he came to the
country as tourist. “I am a student of
Punjab College and I am in Nigeria as a tourist because my friend told me that
Victoria Island and Ikoyi are beautiful tourist centres. Unfortunately, when I
arrived at the Lagos airport, the heroin was found in my luggage. This is my
first time of coming to Nigeria and I had intended to spend a week or two,”
Iftikihar told investigators.
Reacting to the incident, the Chairman/Chief
Executive of NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, expressed concern about the issue but was delighted
in the arrest. He said that Nigeria is winning the fight against narcotics.
“This arrest and seizure will further send a
warning to drug trafficking cartels that the Nigeria is winning the fight
against narcotics. NDLEA is prepared to halt the criminal activities of drug
barons through a coordinated drug detection strategies. We are working very
hard to also identify other members of the criminal group,” Giade stated.
The NDLEA boss stressed that while investigation is
ongoing, more proactive measures would be taken to prevent the use of Nigeria
as a transit point for illicit drugs. According to Giade, all suspects linked
to the crime would be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded.
For
some time, now nationals of other countries have been smuggling drugs into
Nigeria in large quantities with country’s anti-drug police battling the issue.
Two years ago, NDLEA, discovered hard drug manufacturing company in Kirikiri Town,
Lagos, on February 3, 2012 and another
plant where similar drugs was also uncovered at Satellite Town in Oriade Local
Government Council Area of the state.
The five areas in Lagos State where
laboratories have been discovered are in Monkey Village, Iba area of Lagos;
Daily Times Estate, Satellite Town; Silver Estate, Isolo; and now Shapeti, area of Lekki.
The fifth one was discovered in Nanka, Anambra State.
The fifth one was discovered in Nanka, Anambra State.
The growing discovery of illegal
methamphetamine production plants in Lagos is giving the Lagos State Government
and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA, serious concern.
The drugs, according to the agency, tested positive for methamphetamine.
In this case, three Bolivians and a Nigerian were arrested in connection with
the discovery.
Two brothers were also declared wanted by the anti-drug agency for
allegedly being accomplices to the arrested suspects.
It was gathered that the arrested suspects were currently being tried and
would be prosecuted and deported after the end of their jail sentence. It was
learnt that the company had been in operation for the past eight months in
Nigeria.
The three Bolivians arrested in connection with the suspected
clandestine laboratory were19 year old Yerko Artunduaga Dorado, Ruben Ticona
Jorge, 21 years old; and Hugo Chavez Moreno, 39 years old. The fourth suspect
is a 23-year-old Nigerian, Uba Ubachukwu Collins. However, Solomon Azuka Uzoka
and Basil Ikechukwu Uzoka are wanted for questioning by the anti-drug Agency. There was one Uwimana Aisha, 38 years old
Burundian woman who cart-walked into the waiting arm of the operatives of the
NDLEA while trying to escape from arrest at the airport. She was arrested
immediately on arrival in Nigeria with 2.390kg of heroin in her possession.
The suspect boarded Air-Rewane from Tanzania and
landed in Nigeria but she was apprehended by officials of the National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja,
and Lagos State.
Her arrest followed the detection of 2.390kg of
heroin in her possession. A competent source said the suspect on immediately
landing at the MMIA, used her Hijab and covered the face so as to look innocent
from being searched at the airport.
The male operatives was said to have cornered her to
a corner and handed her over to a female operatives who took her to a private
chamber meant for the screening of female suspects at the arrival hall for
screening.
After frisking her hand luggage which she
reluctantly allowed for screening, a substance suspected to be heroin was
discovered from her.
The substance was buried inside her luggage to evade
detection and her mode of dressing was meant to evade suspicion of the preying
eyes of the security men at the airport.
NDLEA Airport Commander, Mr. Hamza Umar stated that
the suspect concealed the drug in her hand luggage.
He said. “A Burundian by name, Uwimana Aisha had in
her hand luggage two parcels of powdery substance that tested positive for
heroin weighing 2.390kg. The case is under investigation,” Hamza stated.
It was
gathered that she was shocked when the items were being brought out of her
luggage. Aisha was not forthcoming with the owner of the luggage and bluntly
refused to give out the name of the man she said was her boyfriend that gave
her the drugs.
But in her statement before her captors, the suspect
claimed the bag was given to her by her boyfriend.
“My Nigerian boyfriend gave me the bag in Tanzania.
He promised to marry me and take care of my only daughter”, she state. “We were
to come to Nigeria together but he later said that he will join me the
following day. I trusted him because he was nice to me,”
Aisha’s trust to her boyfriend has kept her in a
cell of the NDLEA.
While at the National Aviation Handling Company
(NAHCO), shed where Aisha was first detained, the suspect is regretting her
involvement in the drug peddling deal in Nigeria. Aisha has been arraigned in
court after the conclusion of the investigations on her.
No comments:
Post a Comment