The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said it has dismantled a drug syndicate controlled by a Chinese man, 58-year-old Tianzhen Yen (alias Jackie,) and arrested the suspect in Lagos.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi, who made this known in a statement yesterday, said Yen was arrested in his hotel in the Ikeja area of Lagos.
According to the statement, officers of the Seme Special Area Command of the agency had on Thursday intercepted a 40-year-old suspect, Yakubu Emmanuel Mark in a commercial bus going to Ghana at the Gbaji checkpoint along Badagry-Seme expressway based on credible intelligence.
When he was searched, a total of 750grams of cocaine were found in his bag.
A swift follow up operation was organized to trace and arrest the kingpin behind the trans-border drug trafficking syndicate, who turned out to be a Chinese citizen, Tianzhen Yen.
He was eventually traced to MC Hotel behind Alade market, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos, the statement revealed.
“When his hotel room was searched, 4.3grams of cocaine; a gram of methamphetamine; two electronic weighing scales; and Chinese National Identification Number Card, among other exhibits were recovered while he was arrested in the vicinity of the hotel,” Babafemi said.
He also said the agency arrested a 50-year-old businessman, Osuoha Christian Iheanacho, at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, AIIA, Enugu, for ingesting 90 wraps of cocaine.
He said: “Osuoha was intercepted on Wednesday at the arrival hall of the Enugu airport during the inbound screening of passengers arriving from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on an Ethiopian airlines flight following months of intelligence and surveillance on him.
“He was subsequently placed on excretion observation during which he digested 90 pellets of cocaine weighing 2.019 kilograms in seven excretions.
“Investigation reveals that the suspect who operates phone and accessories business in Lagos and Gabon, Central Africa, travelled by road from Gabon to Douala, Cameroon from where he took a flight to Addis Ababa where he swallowed the pellets of cocaine while in transit and thereafter continued his journey to Enugu with Lagos as his final destination.
“He deliberately complicated his movement to distort traces of his travel history unknown to him that he has been on NDLEA watchlist for the past three months. In his statement, Osuoha said he desperately needed the money from the criminal drug trade to boost his declining phone and accessories business,” he said.
Babafemi said in another well-coordinated operation carried out by a Special Operations Unit of the agency on Thursday, head of a cocaine distribution cartel, 42-year-old Ndive Maxwell Obinna was arrested along with five of his associates at Ago Palace Way in Okota, Isolo, Lagos. A total of 2.412 kilograms of cocaine were recovered from them.
Other members of the drug trafficking organization arrested along Obinna include:
Okeke Gloria Ifeoma who is the syndicate’s stash keeper; Ikechebelu Emmanuel Chibuzor; Okorie Onyedikachi; Okonkwo Nnabugo Prince; and Okafor Blessing Anita, he said.
He also said at the Tincan seaport in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Friday intercepted 92 parcels of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis with a combined weight of 23.25kg concealed in two vehicles imported from Canada: a Nissan car and a GMC bus.
He said the discovery was made during a joint examination of a container from Canada by NDLEA officers, men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other stakeholders.
Babafemi also said in Rivers state, NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports complex, Onne, on Thursday, intercepted two containers of imported opioids during a joint examination with men of Customs Service and other security agencies.
He said a total of 168,000 bottles of codeine based syrup worth N1.1 billion in street value, were recovered from one of the containers while the second one container, 4,5 million pills of super royal tramadol 225mg valued at N3.1 billion, ringing the combined value of both the codeine and tramadol consignments to N4.3 billion.
The statement reads “In Ekiti state, NDLEA operatives on November 17, arrested a 50-year-old physically challenged woman, Mustapha Boja, with 286 grams of Colorado and Loud strains of cannabis at Araromi street, Ikere-Ekiti, while 64kg of cannabis sativa was recovered at Akinyele motor park, Ibadan, Oyo state on Thursday.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
