NDLEA Arrests Two Qatar-based ‘Drug Lords’, Intercepts Their Meth Consignment At Lagos Airport

Eko Hot Blog reports that operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested Qatar-based “drug kingpins”, Eyah Celestine Nnamdi, alias Murphy, and Ugwuoke Peter Oluchukwu.

The NDLEA made the disclosure in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday.

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According to the statement, the arrests followed the interception of the suspects’ methamphetamine consignment at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos.

Babafemi revealed that Ugwuoke was the first to be arrested on June 9 during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways passengers at the departure point, Terminal 2 of the Lagos airport.

“NDLEA officers discovered that the suspect was travelling to Doha with an Ivorian international passport with the name Hien Narcisse,” the statement reads.

“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.”

The NDLEA spokesperson also disclosed that 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 hometown 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,” Babafemi said.

“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.”

In the same vein, anti-narcotic officers of the NDLEA have arrested a female Pharmacist, Ikwebe Ori Hellen in Kaduna following her attempts to use forged documents to purchase and distribute six cartons of pentazocine injection with 2,000 ampules.

“She confessed she used fake documents of a Kaduna hospital to order the drug, which she planned to distribute in Kaduna, Abuja and Sokoto,” the statement said.

“The consignment was initially intercepted at the local wing of the MMIA, Ikeja while being sent to Kaduna by a freight agent.”

Similarly, NDLEA operatives in Niger State have seized a total of 1,072 kilograms of cannabis in two raids. On Thursday 15th June, 726kg of the illicit substance was recovered at Oyoyo filling station along Kaduna – Abuja express road where four suspects: Aminu Mohammed, 50; Nasiru Mohammed, 30; Rabiu Haruna, 29, and Hamza Abubakar, 18 were arrested.

The following day, Friday, June 16, operatives intercepted a Mercedes 1422 truck marked MKD 116ZM on its way from Umunede, Delta state with gallons of palm oil to be delivered at Garki market in Abuja.

However, the truck driver, Jekwe Udenze, 38, along with his two assistants: Gabriel Nzekwube, 43, and Chima Uzoma, 42, stopped over at Uromi, Edo State and loaded 19 jumbo bags of cannabis weighing 346kg, to be delivered at Dumez Luxury Park along Kaduna road, Suleja to Ignatius Mokwe, 47. Both the driver and his two assistants as well as the owner of the illicit consignment, Ignatius Mokwe have been arrested.

Meanwhile, a total of 30.9 hectares of cannabis farms were destroyed in Delta, Edo and Ondo in the past week.

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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.

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