NDLEA Intercepts Illicit Drugs Hidden In Semovita Packs

Agents of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have seized various quantities of ephedrine, a cannabis sativa (skunk) strain, and nitrous oxide, more commonly known as laughing gas, that were being shipped to South Africa and Kenya through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja Lagos.

In a statement issued on Sunday, September 3, the agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, claimed that members of Transnational Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTO), some of whom were quickly apprehended, had their homes searched, and had their high-end vehicles seized, were responsible for the trafficking.

“Through credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives on Friday 25th August intercepted a notorious drug trafficker, Suleiman Babatunde Oba who is a member of a cartel distributing cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and ephedrine between Nigeria, Brazil, Ghana, South Africa, Mozambique, and Europe.

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“He was arrested while attempting to board a Rwanda Air flight to South Africa with two boxes loaded with ephedrine sealed in semovita packs. The recovered substance is a precursor chemical and active ingredient in the production of methamphetamine,” Babafemi said.

Suleiman, who has lived in South Africa for over 20 years, holds a South African passport, is married to a South African woman, and was named in the statement as the leader of the drug network. Suleiman also named Hakeem Babatunde Salami, who resides in both South Africa and Lagos. He said that a subsequent search of Salami’s house at 75 Wosilatu Dawodu Street, in the Ijesha, Aguda neighbourhood of Surulere, Lagos, on Monday, August 28, revealed that he had left the country on the same day Suleiman was detained.

A white Toyota Venza with the license plate LSR 410 HT, a Mercedes Benz SUV with the registration number LSD 998HP, phones, and important documents required for further inquiry were all recovered from the home, he said.

The NDLEA spokesman recalled that in August 2021, the agency had seized 25.60 kg of ephedrine from a trafficker named Arua Emmanuel Onwuka at the Lagos airport. This seizure was also linked to the same cartel, whose members have been identified and are currently on the run. An airport employee named Godwin Shedrack (also known as Goddy), who was implicated as a member of the syndicate, is also under investigation.