Men from the National Drug Enforcement Agency are on the trail of an importer, Cedrick Maduweke, for shipping a drug, cannabis indica, to Nigeria.
NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said Maduweke offered agency officials a bribe of N8m for the shipment.
Babafemi noted that 37.5 kilograms of those shipments were intercepted last week and 11 suspects were arrested.
It said: “At the Tincan port in Lagos, agents intercepted a 24.5kg shipment of cannabis indica to Nigeria from Montreal, Canada, while a N8m bribe offered to NDLEA officers by the importer was secured in a account for prosecution of cases.
“While the importer, Cedrick Maduweke, remains on the run, one of his accomplices, Steve Adigwe, has been arrested. The shipment was hidden in a used Toyota Sienna vehicle that arrived at the port along with three other cars in a container marked MSMU 5082733.”
“At Lagos airport, a cargo agent, Ogunsina Damilare, was arrested on Friday, January 6, following an offer to export 1.5kg of skunk hidden in food to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, through the cargo shed. SAHCO export from Murtala Muhammed International Airport. while a similar attempt to ship 11.5kg of the same substance to the UK was thwarted when the shipment concealed in a giant wooden sculpture was intercepted by NDLEA officers from the Directorate of General Operations and Investigations at a courier company. in Lagos”.
The spokesperson further revealed that a total of 3,672 kg of cannabis sativa was recovered at two locations and five suspects were arrested in Kaduna state during separate raid operations.
The President, NDLEA, Brig. General Buba Marwa (retired), urged the agency’s men to intensify the pressure on the drug cartels in the country.
