'Drug kingpin apprehended in Lagos, NDLEA detects shipment of methamphetamine and opiates.'

The National Drug Enforcement Administration said Sunday that the agency's operatives thwarted attempts by drug trafficking syndicates to export illegal substances, including methamphetamine and opiates, hidden in the hems of new denim pants, dolls, buttons, local soap and cans of Milo milkshake to Europe, the United Arab Emirates and Asia.

Some of the shipments intercepted by agents of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, NDLEA, at courier firms in Lagos included:

• tramadol 225mg concealed in the linings of new denim pants with directions to Cyprus;
• a batch of cannabis hidden in the heads of dolls destined for Dubai, UAE;
• sachet s'
another shipment of the same drug hidden in local soap, also bound for the UAE;
• another shipment of the same drug hidden in local soap, also bound for the UAE;
• a shipment of methamphetamine concealed in buttons bound for Hong Kong;

This was disclosed by the spokesperson of the anti-drug agency, Femi Babafemi.

In another operation, operatives in Lagos on December 1 apprehended a drug kingpin, Okechukwu Ogala, 56, who specializes in exploiting and recruiting young citizens to export methamphetamine to Asian countries. He was apprehended at the Blue Moon Hotel in Okota area of Lagos with 60 rolls of methamphetamine, weighing 1.009kg.

In another operation in Lagos, operatives on Dec. 1 seized 393 kilograms of''known as Tete Peter Joseph) found in a hut on a cannabis farm'.

"No fewer than 120,000 tramadol capsules concealed in new sound systems packed in a bus bound for Jos, Plateau State, were seized by NDLEA information officers along Onitsha-Awka road, Anambra State, on Nov.

Meanwhile, on December 1, NDLEA officials were able to seize no fewer than 8,000 bottles of codeine syrup when they intercepted a vehicle carrying the opioid on its way from Abuja to''Kadunu. The driver, Shamsu Isiyaku, and his assistant, Muhammad Maina, were apprehended. On the same day, operatives also apprehended Ernest Esechi, 30, with 44.4kg of compressed cannabis sativa along the Guantu-Sanga road in Kaduna.

In Kogi, NDLEA officers arrested Ahmad Umar, 18, with 46.4kg of cannabis at Kabba checkpoint, while Jamilu Zakari, 32, was apprehended at Kofar Idi, Kandahar, Bauchi town, Bauchi State, with 125 blocks of the same substance weighing 146kg. At least 542.3kg of cannabis was recovered from the suspect, Festus Egeogoli, 32, during a raid on his base on Jakpa Road, Warri, Delta State, by NDLEA agents on November 29, while 125.9kg of the same substance was also recovered from a warehouse in the same area.