The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced the arrest of four (4) intending pilgrims as they planned to ingest wraps of cocaine ahead of their flight on Wednesday.
The announcement came from the agency’s director of media, and advocacy, Mr. Femi Babafemi. The Spokesman, in a statement, on Thursday, said its officials raided a hotel named Emerald hotel, in the Ladipo area of Oshodi, Lagos state where some of the intending pilgrims were lodged.
The four suspects were lodged in two rooms in the hotel where they had prepared 200 pellets of cocaine weighing 2.20 kilograms to swallow when NDLEA officers stormed their rooms.
One hundred wraps of the class A substance were recovered from each of the two rooms, bringing the total seized cocaine to 200 wraps.
Those arrested during the intelligence-led operation include Usman Kamorudeen, 31; Olasunkanmi Owolabi, 46; Fatai Yekini, 38; and a lady, Ayinla Kemi, 34.
The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Brigadier General Mohamed Marwa (Retd), commended the officers, and men of the Lagos state Command of NDLEA, which conducted the operation. He said the agency will continue to spread its dragnet to track, trace and apprehend criminal elements, who may want to hide under pilgrimage, to carry out their nefarious activities capable of denting the image of the country.
The NDLEA boss also stated that “the Agency will work with our counterparts in Saudi Arabia to ensure that the designated recipients of seized illicit drug consignments in any part of Saudi Arabia are also traced and dealt with accordingly.”
