The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), have arrested an ex-convict, Eniola Sodade, for passport racketeering at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos State.
Penpushing reports that the agency spokesperson Femi Babafemi, made this known in a statement on Sunday explaining that the suspect had earlier been arrested by operatives of the Tincan Command, Lagos, in June 2024, for drug trafficking.
The statement stated that the suspect, who was again arrested by operatives of Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), strategic command of the agency, had earlier been prosecuted and sentenced to four years in prison.
Penpushing further reports that Babafemi added that when he was convicted by a Federal High Court in Lagos on June 14, 2024, the trial judge gave him an option of paying N750,000 fine, which he paid and was released.
“However, in series of operations in December 2024, the NDLEA operatives at the export shed of the Lagos airport, intercepted no fewer than 52 passports of different countries. These were recovered from shipments going to Canada, Russia and other countries and were concealed in shoe soles and food items’, he said.
“Further investigations led to the arrest of four members of three syndicates involved in the racket.The arrested suspects include: the ex-convict which is Eniola Sodade, while others are Saheed Awwal, Salaudeen Afeez and Adebayo Bamigbade’, the statement read.
“Both the exhibits and the suspects were on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024 handed over to the Zonal Command of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), in Lagos for further investigation and possible prosecution’, Babafemi wrote.
Penpushing also reports that in similar vein, the agency recovered not less than 316,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup from two containers by the agency officers at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers State.
The agency spokesperson said the exhibits were recovered during a joint examination of the shipments with officials of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other security agencies on Tuesday, December 31, 2024.
Penpushing reports that the statement emphasized that the seizure followed credible intelligence processed by the Port Harcourt Port command of the agency, adding that in similar development the Kano state operatives of the agency on Tuesday December 31, 2024 raided Mafarki, Dan Dishe area of Dala local government area, where they recovered 149,090 pills of tramadol and exol-5 from a local dealer, 45-year-old Ismail Muhammad.
The statement added that in Kwara state, a 24-year-old fresh graduate, Khadijat Abdulraheem, and a 20-year-old student of the University of Ilorin, Ayomide Morakinyo, were on Sunday, December 29, 2024, arrested by the operatives at Tanke-University road, Oke Odo, Ilorin.
Penpushing further reports that Babafemi said that the suspects arrest was based on credible intelligence that they were producing and selling drug-laced cupcakes to students in the community, adding that when their apartment was searched, 42 pieces of drug-laced cakes were recovered.
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