The Nation Newspaper

Tag: nabs

  • NDLEA nabs two drug traffickers with N50m worth narcotics

    NDLEA nabs two drug traffickers with N50m worth narcotics

    The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Kano, at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) command yesterday paraded two suspected drug traffickers in possession of hard drugs valued at over N50 million.

    Speaking to reporters on the arrest, the MAKIA NDLEA Commander, Mr. Ambrose Umoru, said that the suspected drug traffickers were apprehended on February 17 by anti narcotic agents attached to the airport.

    He explained that the suspects were apprehended during routine inward screening of passengers onboard Ethiopian Airlines flight number ET 941.

    According to him, one of the suspects, Nweke Emmanuel, (49) who hails from Ire in Idenmili South Local Government Area of Anambra State, was in possession of 2.180kg of ingested heroine detected during the screening exercise. .

    Umoru said:  “The suspect is a businessman and barber who is based in Kinshasha, Democratic Republic of Congo, traveled to Bujumbura, Burundi where he ingested a total of 127 wraps of heroine.”

    The second suspect, Miss Olunwabusola Dumebi (32), from Ibusa in Oshimili Local Government Area of Delta State, a stylist by profession, was billed to board same flight with the first suspect.

    He noted three kg of a whitish powdery substance suspected to be cocaine was also discovered in her possession.

     

  • JTF nabs oil thief suspect

    A suspect notorious for breaking pipelines and stealing petroleum products belonging to oil companies has been arrested by the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Pulo Shield.

    The Media Coordinator of JTF, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, identified the suspect, who is in the custody of the task force, as Romeo Ogun.

    He was said to have been apprehended by the anti-oil theft squad of 3 Battalion operating in Sector I Area of Responsibility (AoR) of the JTF.

    Nwachukwu said he was nabbed through the assistance of the Nakus surveillance at Odidi II, near Takula in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State.

    Said he: “The suspect was arrested when towing a Cotonou boat containing illegally-sourced crude oil with a motorised fibre boat.

    “Ogun and the items recovered have been taken into custody to assist in preliminary investigations, before he will be handed over to an appropriate agency for prosecution.”

    The JTF spokesman said the troops of sector 1 also discovered and shut down an illegal oil refinery at Orhobo village in Jesse community, Ethiope East Local Government.

    In Bayelsa State, he said 134 illegal refineries were uncovered and destroyed by the troops of the 343 Regiment of Sector 2 AoR.

    Nwachukwu said 34 Cotonou boats, 36 pumping machines and 12 illegal oil dumps used by oil thieves in Igbematoru, Oyeregbene, Lasukugbere, Mbikiba and Ewesusho communities in Southern Ijaw, Brass and Nembe local governments were smashed by the operatives.

    He said: “Some of the camps were being regenerated by the oil thieves before the crackdown. A locally-fabricated steel barge containing a product suspected to be illegally- distilled Automated Gas Oil (AGO) was also intercepted by the patrol team near Nembe 2 flow station. It has been towed to Nembe 1 flow station for safe custody.”

    Confirming the outfit’s operations in Rivers State, Nwachukwu said: “A wooden barge and two wooden boats conveying unascertained quantity of adulterated Automated Gas Oil were rounded up by troops of the 29 Battalion patrolling the waterways of Alakri-Okirika axis in Okirika Local Government.

    “The wooden barges have been recovered and secured at Peterside House boat.”

     

  • Navy nabs Nigerians, Ghanaians

    THE Central Naval Command of the Nigerian Navy at the weekend thwarted a plot by a group of three Ghanaians and nine Nigerians to smuggle 1, 092, 000 litres of stolen crude oil from Akassa community in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State to Ghana.

    Operatives of the Navy in an operation conducted by the Forward Operating Base (FORMOSO) also impounded a vessel christened MT FRANKENSEN used in conveying the product.

    It was learnt that the operatives arrested three Ghanaians and nine Nigerians onboard the ship.

    They were said to have intercepted the suspected oil thieves with their loot offshore Nun River.

  • NDLEA nabs single mother, four others

    •Suspects swallowed 398 wraps of narcotics

    A 28- year- old single mother and four other suspected drug traffickers have been apprehended for alleged ingestion of 398 wraps of narcotics.

    The drugs, weighing 7.1kg, consisted 1.1kg of methamphetamine and 6kg of cocaine.

    The suspects were arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja.

    NDLEA Commander at the Abuja Airport, Mr. Hamisu Lawan, said one of the suspects is the 28-year-old single mother, Udoka Egbuchelam, who ingested 73 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.1kg.

    Others, according to him, are 45-year-old Ezechi  Nwabueze, who ingested 95 wraps of cocaine weighing 2kg and 54-year-old Uzoukwu Joel, who ingested 85 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.5kg.

    Others are 36-year-old Obiora Okechukwu, who ingested 91 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.6kg and 32-year-old Eze Everest, who swallowed 54 wraps of cocaine weighing 900 grammes.

    Hamisu said apart from Egbuchelam and Nwabueze caught while boarding Ethiopian Airline flights to Malaysia and Istanbul, other suspects arrested during inward screening of passengers.

    Egbuchelam said she needed money to pay the tuition of her 5- year- old daughter.

    “I wanted to pay the school fees of my daughter. Since my arrest, I have been worried because I do not know how she is coping without me.

    The people that gave me the drug promised to pay me $2, 700,” the indigene of Mbaitolu Local Government Area of Imo State, stated.

    Nwabueze, who was selling shirts in Benin Republic, said: “I am the only child of my parents. My problem began when my shop got burnt and nobody was willing to help me. I was to deliver the drugs in Istanbul, Turkey.”

    He hails from Uzowani Local Government Area of Enugu State.

    Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade said that the single mother would have been killed if she was caught in Malaysia, which practises capital punishment for traffickers.

    He urged members of the public to avoid trafficking, stating: “We are happy to prevent the untimely death of another Nigerian.”