South African citizen arrested with ‘Mkpulu Mmiri’ at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

Erasmus Jean-Pierre, a citizen of South Africa, was apprehended by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. 

The arrest was made as Jean-Pierre attempted to smuggle 2.6 kilograms of methamphetamine, commonly referred to as "Mkpulu Mmiri", through the Nigerian airport en route to the Middle East.

In a press release issued on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, the spokesperson for the NDLEA, provided details of the incident, said: “Attempt by a 29-year-old South African, Erasmus Jean – Pierre, to export 2.6 kilogrammes of methamphetamine concealed in his luggage to the Middle East through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA Abuja on Wednesday, August 23, 2023, was thwarted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, who arrested him and recovered the illicit drug.”

Mr. Femi said; the suspect was apprehended by NDLEA operatives while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Abuja to the Middle East. 

Upon conducting a thorough search of his luggage, a factory producing a whitish powdery illicit substance was discovered packed in various parts of the bag. 

South African arrested with Methamphetamine consignment at Abuja airport

- As NDLEA intercepts 1,343.8kg skunk, ketamine going to UK, Indonesia, others; seizes 514,420 pills of opioids in Gombe, Adamawa, Ogun raids

Read more at:https://t.co/3Ng8tuuMcV

— NDLEA NIGERIA (@ndlea_nigeria) August 27, 2023

According to Babafemi, initial investigations indicate that the suspect arrived in Lagos from Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire on August 19th, traveled to Abuja on August 22nd, and obtained the brown bag containing the drugs the following day before heading to the Abuja airport for his departure from Nigeria.

In a related development, NDLEA operatives last Tuesday in Adamawa State, 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. Equally, in Abuja the Federal Capital Territory, operatives intercepted two consignments of skunk with a gross weight of 1, 242.1 kilogrammes.

The first consignment of 665.1 kilogrammes was seized from a truck around Area 3 on Sunday, August 20 August while the second one weighing 577 kilogrammes was recovered during a stop and search operation along Lokoja- Abaji expressway same day. The consignment was concealed in Jumia goods delivery packs inside a container Mercedes truck, whose driver, Yusuf Yakubu Asokomhe, and his assistant, Tunde Ogundare, were arrested.

In Kwara state, operatives on patrol along along Jebba – Minna road last Tuesday intercepted a commercial truck conveying goods from Lagos to Katsina with 37.5 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa hidden among other items. The driver, Abdulazeez Usman and his assistant, Halidu Musa were arrested for further investigation.

Similarly, In Yobe state, NDLEA operatives last Wednesday intercepted an ash colour Sharon Galaxy vehicle marked AKK 484 XA along Potiskum-Gombe road coming from Baissa, Kurmi local government area of Taraba state. Three suspects in the vehicle: Ya’u Yahuza, 30; Yahaya Muhd, 29, and Tanimu Salisu, 20, were arrested with 133 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 62 kilogrammes.

Operatives in Edo last Thursday stormed the Uzebba forest in Owan West local government area of the state, where they arrested Esazobor Ohioze, 33, with 54.3kgs cannabis recovered from a hut while about three hectares of cannabis farms were destroyed.

Babafemi said efforts by transnational drug cartels to move a consignment of 117 grammes of ketamine neatly concealed in a pair of leather male slippers being shipped to Indonesia and 2.14 kilogrammes of skunk clinically hidden in the walls of a local wooden drum, were equally frustrated by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, attached to courier firms in Lagos.

Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) while commending the efforts of the officers and men of the NAIA, Gombe, Ogun, Adamawa, FCT, Kwara, Yobe, Edo Commands as well as those of DOGI for a job well done in the past week, charged them and their colleagues across the country to intensify their drug supply reduction operations and equally balance that with drug demand reduction activities.

Credit: dailypostng.com

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