The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a consignment of Colorado, a strong strain of cannabis, concealed in boxing kits imported from the United States at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State. The consignment was intercepted by the NDLEA on New Year Day, January 1, 2024.
The spokesperson for the anti-drug agency, Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, January 7, said a weeklong intelligence-led operation to get the receiver arrested was consummated on Saturday, January 6, following the successful tracking and arrest of 38-year-old Olorunfunmi Saheed Olakunle who distributes the dangerous psychoactive substance to dealers across Lagos state.
Babafemi stated that the consignment arrived in Nigeria on January 1, via Cairo on an Egypt Airlines flight marked as boxing kits. “According to Saheed, he delivers such consignments to different recipients whenever his childhood friend, US-based Sagir Salami sends them. The latest shipment has a total weight of 1.80 kilograms,” the NDLEA spokesman added.
He added that the NDLEA operatives, on patrol along Osogbo-Ode Omu Road in Osun on New Year Day, intercepted a consignment of illicit drugs sent through waybill from Lagos to Osogbo, the state capital.
He noted that a follow-up operation led to the arrest of a 43-year-old suspect, Ibrahim Olawale, saying the drugs recovered include cannabis sativa 10.8kg; Loud 150 grams; Colorado 19 grams; Molly five grams; totalling 10.974kg. Babafemi said a digital scale, N18,000 monetary exhibit, and customised wrapping papers for Colorado were also seized.
Commending the anti-narcotic officers for the arrests and seizures, the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), charged them and their compatriots across all formations of the agency to continue to remain vigilant and double their drug demand reduction as well as drug supply reduction efforts in the New Year.
