South African arrested with drugs at Abuja airport

A 29-year-old South African, Erasmus Jean-Pierre, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), while trying to export 2.6kgs of methamphetamine concealed in his luggage to the Middle East through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja on Wednesday 23rd August 2023.

Spokesman of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in a statement noted that the suspect was intercepted by the anti-narcotic operatives during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 404 from Abuja to the Middle East via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and the illicit drug recovered.

“A thorough search of his luggage led to the discovery of the whitish powdery illicit substance factory packed in different parts of the bag.

“Preliminary investigation reveals that the suspect arrived in Lagos through Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire on Saturday 19th August, came to Abuja on Tuesday 22nd August, and took possession of the brown bag containing the drug consignment on Wednesday 23rd August before heading to the Abuja airport for his flight out of Nigeria,” Babafemi said.

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Meanwhile, NDLEA officers in Gombe State on patrol along Darazo road on Monday 21st August recovered an abandoned Volkswagen Sharon vehicle marked GME 76 XD containing a total of 373,420 pills of opioids including tramadol and diazepam.

In the same vein, operatives in Ogun State on Wednesday 23rd August raided the home of a drug dealer, Ifeanyi Orji in the Ibafo area of the state where 81,000 tablets of tramadol 225mg weighing 32.4kgs were recovered.

In Adamawa State, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday 22nd August recovered 60,000 pills of tramadol from a suspect, Ibrahim Abba, 25, who was travelling in a commercial Toyota Starlet car from Kalaa village to Mubi.