By Kamil Opeyemi
Qatar-based drug kingpins, Eyah Celestine Nnamdi, alias Murphy and Ugwuoke Peter Oluchukwu have been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA following the interception of their methamphetamine consignment at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos.
Ugwuoke was the first to be arrested on 9th June during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways passengers at the departure point, Terminal 2 of the Lagos airport.
The agency’s spokesman,Femi Babafemi while disclosing this in a statement on Sunday said, the personnel of the agency discovered that the suspect was travelling to Doha with an Ivorian international passport with the name Hien Narcisse.
“A further scrutiny of his black carry-on luggage led to the discovery of a false bottom concealment of two parcels of crystalline substance that tested positive to methamphetamine weighing 1.00kg.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect is a Nigerian who had gone to obtain an Ivorian passport for his travels. He confessed that he travelled to Qatar in August 2022 and returned from the Arab nation about two months ago to perfect arrangement for the movement of the drug consignment.
“A further probe led operatives to discover that his Qatar-based senior partner in the trade simply identified as Murphy was lurking around in Eziani, his home town in Nsukka LGA, Enugu State. Ugwuoke who hails from Igboeze North Local Government Area of the State claims he holds a National Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the Federal Polytechnic Oko.
“A prompt deployment of NDLEA operatives on 10th June to Eziani community of Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, led to the arrest of ‘Murphy’ whose true identity was later discovered to be Eyah Celestine Nnamdi, who had lived in Indonesia for some years before relocating to Doha, Qatar,” Baba said
Meanwhile, a total of 30.9 hectares of cannabis farms were destroyed in Delta, Edo and Ondo in the past week.
In Delta, 18 hectares of cannabis farms were destroyed on Monday 12th June in Umuchime village, Ogume, Ndokwa West LGA by NDLEA operatives supported by soldiers.
“Four suspects arrested on the farms include two men and two women: Kingsley Atuola, 40; Okikiolu Adekunle, 44; Osai Doris, 40, and Ublenu Joy, 28.”
In Edo state, operatives on Wednesday 14th June stormed Awakpa forest in Owan West LGA where they arrested Malachy Amaechi; Nanmua Peter; Ojo Momoh; Afam Luke and John Danladi who were apprehended inside a hut located on 2.5 hectares of cannabis farm, which was destroyed and 102 kilograms of the substance already harvested recovered.
Another farm measuring 1.294870 hectares was also destroyed with the three farms razed totalling 3.978217 hectares.
Similarly, operatives on Saturday 17th June raided the house of a dealer, Godwin Ejiro, 45, at Uyiwnendi community, Ikpoba Oka LGA, where quantities of illicit drugs including cocaine, heroin, meth, swinol and cannabis were recovered.
In Ondo state, John Emmanuel, 30, was arrested at Ofosu, with 81kg cannabis on Thursday 15th June while operatives on same day nabbed Gideon Akoh at Ala forest where a total of nine hectares of farm were destroyed and 12kg harvested substance recovered.
While 93.7kg of the psychoactive substance was evacuated from a shop in Enugu metropolis on Saturday 17th June, a wanted notorious dealer, Kwada Vendi, 37, was arrested with 30.6kg cannabis at Mamari, Maiduguri, Borno state on Tuesday 13th June.
Reacting, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) commended the officers and men of MMIA, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Kano, Niger, Borno, Benue, Bauchi and Enugu Commands of the Agency for their vigilance and professionalism in the discharge of their responsibilities.
He charged them and their colleagues across the country not to rest on their oars. Via