NDLEA Arrests 5 Members Of Airport Drug Syndicate In Fresh Offensives Against Drug Cartels Across Nigeria

<h4>NDLEA Arrests 5 Members Of Airport Drug Syndicate In Fresh Offensives Against Drug Cartels Across Nigeria<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> has gathered that a string of fresh offensives against drug cartels across Nigeria has led to the arrest of a fleeing drug kingpin heading a syndicate operating at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport&comma; MMIA&comma; Ikeja Lagos and six other members of his gang&period; A professional methamphetamine &lpar;Mkpuru Mmiri&rpar; cook and a lawyer were also arrested in Owerri&comma; Imo state and Ado Ekiti&comma; Ekiti state respectively&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;According to a statement signed by Femi Babafemi&comma; Director&comma; Media &amp&semi; Advocacy&comma; made available to the National Association of Online Security Reporters&comma; NAOSRE on Wednesday&comma; the Lagos airport drug syndicate was behind the smuggling of 1&comma; 584&comma;000 tablets of Tramadol seized on Tuesday 15th March by <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;punchng&period;com&sol;">NDLEA<&sol;a> operatives in collaboration with Aviation Security &lpar;AVSEC&rpar; and Customs service personnel at the airport&period; The seizure includes 17 cartons of 250mg Tramadol branded as &&num;8220&semi;Tamra&&num;8221&semi; weighing 669&period;70kg and five cartons of 225mg Tramadol under the brand name &&num;8220&semi;Royal&&num;8221&semi; with a gross weight of 217&period;15kg&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The psychotropic substance&comma; which was imported into the country from Pakistan was smuggled through the airport tarmac using one of the vehicles of the Skyway Aviation Handling Company &lpar;SAHCO&rpar; and was intercepted at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria &lpar;FAAN&rpar; Personnel Yard&period; Two suspects&colon; Ofijeh John Mowa&comma; a SAHCO driver and Nyam Gazu Alex who is a security guard with the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company &lpar;NAHCO&rpar; were initially arrested in connection with the seizure&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Further investigations by NDLEA operatives however led to the arrest of five other persons involved in the crime including the ringleader&comma; Yunana Fidelis who fled Lagos to Kaduna the moment their lid was blown open&period; Others include&colon; Adesanwo Temitope&semi; Owoseni Taiwo Temidayo&semi; Fasoranti Shola and Bamigbade Jonathan&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Yunana Fidelis who is also a staff of NACHO had escaped and fled to Kaduna after<br &sol;>&NewLine;depositing Nineteen Million Eight Hundred Thousand Naira &lpar;N19&comma; 800&comma;000&period;00&rpar; cash with a BDC operator to be paid later into his bank account&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;After tracking him for days in Kaduna&comma; on Friday 25th Fidelis relocated to Abuja where he was eventually arrested by NDLEA operatives at 7pm on Sunday 27th March while he was trying to collect One Million Naira &lpar;N1&comma; 000&comma; 000&period;00&rpar; cash from an undercover agent who posed as a BDC operator&period; In addition to recovering the cash Fidelis deposited with the BDC operator in Lagos&comma; the Agency had also placed a post no debit order on his identified bank accounts&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Meanwhile&comma; a professional methamphetamine &lpar;Mkpuru Mmiri&rpar; cook&comma; Reuben Bekweri&comma; 34&comma; has been arrested in Owerri while trying to distribute a kilogram of the illicit drug he cooked and packaged in seven nylon sachets in the Irete Area of Imo state capital on Saturday 26th March&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In Ado Ekiti&comma; narcotic officers on Monday 28th March also arrested a 42-year-old lawyer&comma; Mr&period; Mayowa Oluwanisomo&comma; in Zone 4&comma; Embassy Island&comma; Moferere area of the Ekiti state capital following credible intelligence that he deals in psychotropic substances&period; A total of 11&comma; 570 tablets of Tramadol weighing 7&period;3kilograms were recovered from him when his residence was searched&period; He admitted ownership of the drug exhibits&comma; adding that he graduated from Ekiti State University&comma; Ado Ekiti and Abuja campus of the Nigerian Law School in 2016&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Chairman&sol;Chief Executive of NDLEA&comma; Brig&period; Gen&period; Mohamed Buba Marwa &lpar;Retd&rpar; commended the officers and men of MMIA&comma; Imo and Ekiti state Commands for sustaining the offensive action against drug cartels in their respective areas of responsibility&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;