The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NDLEA

  • Sunny Ade’s former guitarist nabbed with cocaine

    A former guitarist with the popular juju musician,Sunny Ade ,has been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) while attempting to export cocaine to Italy.

    The 62-year old grandfather was nabbed on Tuesday,January 1,at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport while on his way to board an Air France plane to Italy.

    Allegedly found on him were two parcels of cocaine industrially hidden in the false bottom of his luggage.The two parcels weighed 1.575kilogrammes.

    The NDLEA Commander at the airport, Mr Hamza Umar,confirmed the arrest as the first in the new year.

    The suspect who has four wives and many children owned up to the alleged crime, blaming his involvement on financial hardship. He said: “after my primary education, I only did one year in the secondary school before I went into music. I can play any kind of guitar but my music career is a sad story.

    “I played for King Sunny Ade for 30 years before I was unceremoniously retired in 2007. I was unprepared and without severance money I saw the bitter side of life. This is my first time of involving myself in drug trafficking. I did it out of frustration because at my age I could not provide for my family. I am ashamed of myself”.On how he got involved in drug trafficking, Fatoke explained that he got a call from a friend. “I live in Ibadan with my family. I was invited to Lagos where I was given 50,000 naira and they promised that every arrangement would be made for me to travel soon.

    “They promised to pay me one million naira. If not for my condition, I would have turned down the offer but it was my last hope to free myself from financial difficulty. I was given the bag and my ticket but at the airport NDLEA detected the drug. Since then, I have been in deep pain. I feel bad because I have no one to help me.”

    NDLEA Chairman, Ahmadu Giade described the involvement of Fatoke in drug trafficking as sad and disappointing.

  • NDLEA arrests 125 suspects in Kano

    Between October and November this year, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Kano has arrested 125 suspected drug users, abusers and traffickers. The agency has also intercepted 836.862 kilogrammes of Cannabis Sativa and other psychotropic substances.

    88 of the arrested suspects were tried and convicted for being in possession of illicit drugs, while 83 addicts were counselled and freed.

    According to the Kano NDLEA Commander, Alhaji Garba Ahmadu, a large chunk of the intercepted illicit drugs were Cannabis Sativa, which has been in rampant use in Kano in recent times.

    Garba attributed the high rate of drug use in Kano to social factors, including the ever growing population, youth unemployment and Kano’s status as a commercial nerve centre, where people of different shapes in character visit on daily basis.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Senate accuses NDLEA of victimization

    Senate accuses NDLEA of victimization

    The Senate on Wednesday in Abuja accused the authorities of the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) of victimization of officers who refused to compromise in their duties.

    This was in reference to a petition by Mr Adamu Magaji for alleged wrongful termination of appointment and victimization for failure to compromise official responsibility.

    Magaji had petitioned the Senate over his alleged unlawful termination and the petition was referred to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.

    Presenting the report, the Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Ayo Akinyelure (LP-Ondo) said Magaji was sacked for refusing to compromise.

    “Magaji’s termination was a product of his zeal to serve and not wanting to compromise official responsibility and refusal to release a suspect by name Ihenacho to his superior officer.

    Akinyelure said Magaji was a dedicated staff whose appointment was allegedly terminated for fraternizing with a drug baron, Obi Okorie, who he arrested.

    He said a committee was instituted to investigate the said fraternization after which a query was issued to Magaji.

    He, however, noted that since Magaji had never been queried before, a first instance query was not enough to have led to the termination of his appointment.

    The chairman said from the investigation carried out, Magaji’s relationship with Okorie was in the interest of the job and to uphold the integrity of the Agency.

    The Senate therefore adopted the recommendations of the committee that Magaji’s termination be nullified and the officer reinstated.

    The Senate also asked the NDLEA authorities to pay Magaji all his entitlements to date.

    Senate President David Mark said the adoption of the above recommendations was a message to “whistle blowers” that the Senate would protect them.

    Mark also said it was a message to senior officers in the agency who punished whistle blowers within the system that the Senate would stand by the whistle blowers.(NAN)

  • ‘Nigeria has never bought a sniffer dog’

    ‘Nigeria has never bought a sniffer dog’

    The Director-General, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mr. Femi Ajayi has disclosed that Nigeria has never purchased a sniffer dog in aid of security operations in the country.

    According to him, all the dogs being used by the agency in policing sea, land and airports were handouts from friendly countries, including the United States, Germany and South Africa.

    The NDLEA boss, who spoke at Adetiloye Hall in Ado-Ekiti at a five-day Annual Congress of the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association, lamented the gross underfunding of the agency.

    He said “we don’t even have up to 10 dogs in the NDLEA.”

    The congress, which attracted veterinary specialists/professionals across the country, carried the theme “Veterinarians in Agricultural Transformation and National Security.”

     

     

  • NDLEA seizes 16.436kg illicit drugs

    THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Akwa Ibom State seized 16.436kilogrammes of illicit drugs last month.

    The drugs comprise 16.428kg of Indian Hemp, 2.6g of cocaine, 5.9g of Heroine and 91trs of Combine.

    Combine, according to NDLEA, is a mixture of alcohol and Cannabis.

    NDLEA’s State Commander Mrs. Josephine Obi announced this yesterday.

    She said the agency has arrested 33 suspected drug peddlers, comprising 29 males and four females.

    Mrs. Obi said most of those used by drug barons to perpetrate the illicit act are the poor and minors.

    She said: “It is really pathetic that it is the same kind of people that we keep on coming across as we raid the joints. They are destitutes and their excuse is always that they have nothing else to do.

    “But we have to do our work and arrest them. When we arrest minors, we hand them over to the social welfare agencies. This is because the law recognises that a minor is not criminally liable.”

     

  • 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.”