Attempt by a human trafficker, Mathew Bassey to export illicit drug to Dubai, United Arab Emirate by planting same in the luggage of an orphan, Ms. Peter Gift Eno recruited for a phantom job in the Arab nation has been thwarted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos.
Bassey, 29, from Oron LGA, Akwa Ibom state was arrested on Wednesday 6th July following the interception of Eno at the departure hall of the Lagos airport. When Eno’s luggage was searched, 50 parcels of cannabis (2.80kg) concealed in food items were discovered while there were discrepancies between the age she declared and the date of birth on her international passport.
Further interview reveals that the human trafficker who recruited and brought her to the airport, Mathew Bassey was still lurking around the airport, waiting for her departure. He was promptly tracked and arrested.
Investigations showed that the victim who hails from the same Oron LGA of Akwa Ibom State like Bassey recently lost her mother and as a result made it easy for Bassey to recruit her with the promise of securing her a job in Dubai, UAE. It was further discovered that the recruiter leveraged on the victim’s naivety and planted drugs in her bag for onward delivery to his contact in Dubai.
In a related development, the desperate bid by a drug trafficker, Aloysius Ajuruchukwu Onyekwe (a.k.a Kelvin) to travel by road to Algeria through Sokoto state with ingested 47 wraps of cocaine in his stomach has been frustrated by NDLEA operatives who intercepted him in Ibadan, Oyo state following intelligence shared by the Department of State Security, DSS.
Onyekwe, 26, who hails from Owerri West LGA, Imo state was arrested on Sunday 3rd July at Ojo park Ibadan where he went to board a vehicle enroute Sokoto to Algeria. He was traveling with an 18-year-old lady, Blessing Nwoke. The father of a 10-month-old child who passed out the 47 pellets of cocaine in five excretions confessed that he began his journey to Algeria from Cele area of Okota, Lagos where he ingested the illicit drug, weighing 1.1kg.
Also in Oyo state, no fewer than 1,900 tablets of Tramadol 225mg were seized from a drug dealer, Mustapha Ijabula, 22, who was arrested in a Yola, Adamawa-bound commercial vehicle stopped for routine search along Lagos-Ibadan expressway. He hails from Mubi area of Adamawa state.
In Akwa Ibom state, a trans-border trafficker, Fonkou Dassi, 31, was on Friday 8th July arrested with 6,000 tablets of Tramadol 225mg weighing 3kg by officers of Marine Unit of the Agency when a commercial boat he boarded was intercepted and searched on his way to Cameroon. The suspect concealed the recovered drugs inside indomie noodles cartoon.
In the same vein, a wanted drug dealer, Uduak Edidiong Samuel, 29, was arrested on Tuesday 5th July, after attending a court proceeding where his wife was undergoing trial for another drug case. The suspect had abandoned a cannabis sativa exhibit weighing 9kg when his house was searched on 27th June and has been on the run since then. During his arrest on Tuesday, Uduak was still found in possession of a wrap of skunk.
In Edo state, a notorious drug dealer Beauty Dauda, 27, has been arrested with various quantities of Meth, heroin, cannabis and crack cocaine in a densely populated slum along Lagos bypass, Benin City. She was arrested on Wednesday 6th July after NDLEA operatives were able to break through the ring of protection often provided her by hoodlums and touts in the area.
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) has commended the officers and men of the MMIA, Oyo, Akwa Ibom and Edo commands of the Agency for staying vigilant and proactive in their areas of responsibility. He charged them and their colleagues across the country not to rest on their oars.
Femi Babafemi
Director, Media & Advocacy
NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja
Sunday 10th July 2022
