A 38-year-old expectant mother, Kate Ngozi Nwuju, and a fake soldier, Aliyu Saidu, have been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for alleged drug trafficking.
Spokesperson of the agency, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday said Nwuju was arrested on Tuesday at her residence in Rumueme, Mile 4 area of Port Harcourt, Rivers State with 4.5kg of hemp following a tip-off.
He also said Saidu, suspected to be a fake soldier, was arrested with 2.3kg of hemp on a commercial bus from Lagos to Makurdi on Monday at Aliade checkpoint, Benue State.
Babafemi said the agency seized hundreds of kilograms of illicit substances at the airports, courier firms, hideouts and destroyed hectares of hemp farms in remote forests.
It read, “Attempts by a female passenger, Isesele Obehi and one Emmanuel Chibuzor Omebere to export illicit drugs to Europe through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja were thwarted by narcotics officers who arrested them shortly before they boarded their flights.
“While Isesele was nabbed on Saturday 11th September, 2021 during outward clearance of Ethiopian Airline flight at Gate B departure hall of the Lagos airport on her way to Milan, Italy with 312 sachets of Tramadol, weighing 1.5kg, concealed in crayfish and dried vegetables, Chibuzor was caught with 137.45 grams of the same drug concealed in foodstuff at the Abuja airport on September 2 during outward clearance of Turkish Airline flight to Istanbul, Turkey.
“In the same vein, efforts by desperate traffickers to export varying sizes of consignments containing cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs through courier firms were also foiled. Some of these include 475 grams of heroin concealed in food items going to Canada; 202 grams of cocaine hidden in body cream containers going to Australia; 720 grams of cannabis sativa tucked in computer hard drives heading to United Arab Emirates, UAE and another 2.1kg of cannabis hidden in body cream bottles going to Oman, while 60 grams of cocaine concealed in degree certificates meant for Australia were also seized, all from three courier firms in Lagos.