Agents of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 36-year-old woman, Chioma Afam, who uses multiple identities and wears a hijab to evade security scrutiny in Benue State along with her partner, Peace Chidinma Caleb.
They were arrested for trying to smuggle a total of 296,000 tablets of Diazepam and Exol-5 from Onitsha, Anambra State, to Gombe State.
NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Wednesday, said Chioma who uses multiple names such as “Amina”, “Uzoamaka” and “Ifunaya” to cover her criminal activities was arrested on Saturday, July 17 alongside 22-year-old Peace Chidinma Caleb who also wears a hijab as a cover for her crimes, during routine checks and profiling of inward vehicles into Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
According to the statement, their vehicle coming from Onitsha, Anambra State, was intercepted along Makurdi-Alliade road while heading to Gombe State via Makurdi.
A search of their vehicle led to the discovery of 43 kilogrammes of Diazepam and 33kg of Exol-5, both weighing 76 kilogrammes with a total of 296,000 tablets packed in four large “Ghana-must-go” bags.
The two interstate drug traffickers rebuffed efforts to take pictures with the exhibits without wearing their hijab.
Meanwhile, the Ondo State Command of the Agency on Sunday, July 18, intercepted one Olu Ameh, a commercial motorcycle rider with 465 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa along Ijagba-Ute road in Ose local government area of the state.
The illicit substance was said to have been bought from one Joseph in Ago-Akure, Akure North LGA and being conveyed to the buyer, a certain Egbonwon at Ijagba village in Ose LGA.
Reacting to the two seizures and arrests, Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA commended the commanders, officers and men of the Benue and Ondo state Commands of the Agency for their efforts to ensure that no illicit substance is allowed to pass through their areas of responsibility under whatever guise or cover to destroy the lives of innocent Nigerians in other parts of the country. While wishing them and their colleagues in other Commands across Nigeria a happy sallah celebration, he charged them to remain vigilant at all times.
‘For us in NDLEA, a kilogramme of illicit drug seized by our gallant and courageous officers across the country is a kilogramme less what is available on the streets and in our communities and that is why we’ll continue to encourage all our officers and men to continue to give their best in our pursuit of the mandate President Muhammadu Buhari has given us,’ Gen Marwa stated on Wednesday in Abuja