The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) yesterday said its officials have arrested a suspected drug dealer Okoli Collins Ikenna, the alleged mastermind of recent multiple attempts to export illicit drugs to the United Kingdom (UK) through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.
Spokesman of the agency Femi Babafemi said in a statement that some courier companies in Lagos were also involved in drug trafficking.
Babafemi said Ikenna was on court bail following his arrest in November 2020 and arraignment before a Lagos Federal High Court for attempting to export 15.700kg of Methamphetamine to Australia.
He said investigations into recent multiple attempts to export illicit drugs to the UK led to Ikenna’s arrest on November 2.
According to the statement, he was caught with 78 parcels of Cannabis concealed in black soap packs labelled as Dudu Osun, with a total weight of 12.250kg heading to the UK.
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It reads, “Further investigation also revealed that Okoli is the one behind the attempt to export 7.350kgs of Cannabis to the UK on Thursday 21st October, a consignment that was intercepted at NAHCO export shed of the MMIA.
“A separate investigation by operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, of the Agency, attached to courier companies have equally traced two other attempts to export 47.7kgs of cannabis to the UK through courier firms, to Okoli after his agents arrested in the course of investigation named him as the owner of the consignments.
“In the same vein, desperate bids by traffickers to export over 2 kilograms of Cocaine, Methamphetamine and Cannabis hidden inside containers of body cream, tea bags, vehicle oil and air filters to London, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirate and New Zealand through two major courier firms in Lagos have been scuttled by narcotic officers of the Agency.”
suspects; Ibrahim Sulaiman and Muhammad Sani Alhassan with 23kgs of Diazepam tablets; 2kgs of Codeine syrup and 32kgs of Exol 5 tablets, bringing the total weight to 57kgs.”