NDLEA Recovers $17.7 Million in Travelers’ Cheques Hidden in Children’s Books.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) announced on Sunday that it intercepted a total of 52 travelers’ cheques concealed in children’s books, worth $17.7 million.
According to a statement from NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi in Abuja, the cheques were en route to Malaysia via Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight.
Babafemi stated that NDLEA operatives intercepted the cheques at the airport’s export shed on July 4. This operation, which took place at Lagos airport, resulted in the arrest of a freight agent connected to the intercepted cheques.
“The travelers’ cheques are suspected to be counterfeit, and the suspect will soon be handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further investigation,” he said.
In another operation on July 5, NDLEA officers at the Seme border recovered 718 large bags of skunk weighing 359 kg from a store in the Baba-Pupa area of the border community.
Operatives patrolling along the Okene-Lokoja highway intercepted 10,000 pills of tramadol (225mg) and co-codamol, as well as 1.050 kg of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis. This led to the arrest of the owners of the drug consignments at Jabi Park in Abuja during a follow-up operation.
Babafemi also reported that on July 3, two suspects were arrested in the Ajegunle area of Osogbo, with 13,901 pills and ampoules of various opioids recovered from them. Another suspect was arrested at a patent medicine shop on Arubidi Street, Ile-Ife, with 48,205 pills of opioids.
“On July 1, a raid on a vulcanizer workshop at Akindeko junction, Alekuwodo area of Osogbo led to the arrest of three suspects. They were found with 1,250 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 850 pills of tramadol, and three bottles of codeine-based syrup,” Babafemi stated.
He noted that the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) and social advocacy activities by NDLEA commands continued across the country last week.
