Operatives of different special units of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted large consignments of Cocaine and Colorado, a strong strain of cannabis.
The consignments were concealed in containerised household items and vehicles imported from Durban, South Africa and Canada at the Tincan Seaport in Lagos.
NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi in a statement issued Sunday said following coordinated intelligence and months of tracking of the containers by three special units of NDLEA, the illicit drugs along with arms, ammunition and sundry military effects were seized during joint examination of the three containers by the agency’s officers and their counterparts from Customs Service and other security agencies between Thursday 18th and Friday 19th January 2024.
Babafemi noted that some of the agency’s sniffer dogs were also deployed to help identify locations and bags used in concealing the illicit items.
He said some of the items recovered from the containers include: 1, 274 parcels of Cocaine and Colorado with a total weight of 884.09 kilograms; four pistols; 197 rounds of 9mm ammunition, 49 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, 275 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition, 14 rounds of 9mm ammunition and sundry military personnel effects as well as some chemicals in kegs.
Babafemi stressed: “With the exception of 32.5kg shipment of Colorado that came in used vehicles from Canada, the rest of the items were found in two of three containers that arrived the Tincan port from Durban, South Africa onboard a vessel marked MSC RESILIENT III and discharged on New Year eve, 31st December 2023.
“A suspect linked to one of the containers, UACU 5348336, bearing the 32.5kg Colorado, 41-year-old Akara Chibugo has already been tracked and arrested by NDLEA operatives.
“Two vigilant freight agents and a traveler escaped being roped into two drug trafficking operations by desperate traffickers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos.
“The two agents were contacted to send a consignment of 1kg cannabis concealed in tins of Milo beverage to Turkey but chose to submit the shipment to NDLEA checks before processing the cargo. The psychoactive substance was later discovered to be hidden inside the shipment.”