The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives have arrested a 50-year-old widow and fashion designer, Ifeoma Ezewuike, for allegedly attempting to traffic 1.3 kg of cocaine using a fake pregnancy to evade security checks.
Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said in a statement on Sunday that Ezewuike, a mother of one and owner of Golden Star Creation fashion house in Okota, Lagos, was arrested on August 22 at a Jibowu bus terminal in Yaba while heading to Abuja to deliver the consignment.
Babafemi said a search of her home led to the recovery of 200 grams of a cutting agent for cocaine.
He added that Ezewuike later confessed to inheriting the illegal trade from her late husband, even as she claimed to have been in the fashion business for two decades.
In a separate operation, Babafemi said NDLEA operatives intercepted 90 parcels of Loud, a potent cannabis strain weighing 48.6 kg, concealed in three cartons of kitchen sinks imported from the United States.
According to him, the seizure was made at a courier company in Lagos on August 19.
Other major operations during the week included a raid at the home of notorious dealer Idris Garba in Yola south, Adamawa, which led to the arrest of his associate, Boniface Nnaji, 55, and the recovery of a Toyota Tundra and Toyota Yaris loaded with 354,480 pills of tramadol and other opioids.
In Kogi, 5,000 tramadol capsules, 400 ampoules of pentazocine and 200 of diazepam were seized from a suspect, Neche Okonkwo, at Idah waterside after crossing River Niger from Onitsha.
Babafemi said two suspects were also arrested with 5,850 capsules of pregabalin, while 452,070 pills were recovered from a fleeing dealer’s residence in Kano.
He added that operatives also seized 140 litres of codeine syrup and 7,000 capsules of tramadol in separate arrests.
“In Kwara, nearly 2,300 kg of skunk was seized in three operations involving trucks transporting consignments in the Ajase-Ipo area, with multiple suspects arrested,” he said.
“Two men were arrested at Ikere-Ekiti with 96 kg of skunk, whie over 75,000 kg of cannabis plantations were destroyed across forests and farms, with arrests made in some locations in Taraba, Edo, Delta, and Ondo states.
“Two dispatch riders, Garba Sule and Isaac Augustine, were arrested in Jabi, Abuja, while distributing drugs, including pentazocine injections and skunk.”
