Man offers N8m bribe for drug in imported car

Men of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency are on the trail of an importer, Cedrick Maduweke, over the shipment of a drug, cannabis indica, to Nigeria.

The Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said Maduweke offered officials of the agency a bribe of N8m for the consignment.

Babafemi noted that 37.5 kilogrammes of such consignments were intercepted last week, with 11 suspects arrested.

He said, “At the Tincan port in Lagos, a shipment of 24.5kg cannabis indica to Nigeria from Montreal, Canada, was intercepted by operatives while an N8m bribe offered NDLEA officers by the importer has been secured in an account for the prosecution of the case.

“While the importer, Cedrick Maduweke, is still at large, one of his accomplices, Steve Adigwe, has been arrested. The consignment was hidden in a used Toyota Sienna vehicle that arrived at the port along with three other cars in a container marked MSMU 5082733.”

“At the Lagos airport, a freight agent, Ogunsina Damilare, was arrested on Friday, January 6, following a bid to export 1.5kg of skunk hidden in foodstuffs to Dubai, UAE, through the SAHCO export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, while a similar attempt to ship 11.5kg of the same substance to the United Kingdom was frustrated when the consignment concealed in a giant wooden sculpture was intercepted by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations at a courier company in Lagos.”

The spokesman further revealed that a total of 3,672kg of cannabis sativa was recovered from two locations and five suspects were arrested in Kaduna State during separate raid operations.

The Chairman, NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), urged men of the agency to intensify the heat on drug cartels in the country.