NDLEA Arrests Engineer for Allegedly Concealing Illicit Drugs in Pressure Machines
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has apprehended a suspected drug trafficker, Egwu Phillip Inya, who claimed to be a building engineer, for attempting to receive illicit consignments hidden inside pressure machines imported from South Africa.
According to an NDLEA statement from spokesperson Femi Babafemi on Sunday, the 42-year-old Egwu was arrested on December 2, 2024, at the Okeyson motor park in Enugu. He had arrived to collect three pressure machines containing parcels of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing 7.4 kilograms.
The drugs had arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja Lagos, on November 29, 2024. Acting on credible intelligence, officers from the MMIA Strategic Command monitored the shipment through customs clearance and tracked it to a logistics company’s warehouse outside the airport. However, the importer changed the collection point to Enugu at the last minute, prompting NDLEA operatives to follow the consignments and arrest Egwu upon his arrival in Enugu.
Additionally, NDLEA operatives recovered 511,000 pills of tramadol from a Siena vehicle abandoned by its occupants along the Hildi-Askira Uba road in Adamawa state. The vehicle had been abandoned after the suspects noticed NDLEA officers following them on December 6, 2024.
In Ekiti State, two suspects, Olanrewaju Alale (48) and Babatunde Kayode Ijadahun (55), were arrested with 108 jumbo bags of cannabis, weighing 1,323 kilograms, in a J5 bus heading from Ondo state to the north.
Another suspect, Adekunle Yusuf (33), was apprehended on December 6, 2024, with 704 kilograms of cannabis concealed in white sacks along the Idere road in Igboora, Oyo state.
In Lagos, 65-year-old Ramata Bola Adeyemo was arrested on December 6 with 20.6 liters of codeine-based syrup, while Alhaji Lawan Manga was detained in Ikeja the previous day, with 4.7 kilograms of cannabis and 1.3 kilograms of tramadol in his possession.
The NDLEA continues to intensify its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign with sensitization lectures across the country, targeting schools, worship centers, workplaces, and communities.
Commending the efforts of the NDLEA officers in multiple states, Chairman/CEO Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) praised their successes in reducing drug supply and demand, emphasizing the importance of their operations in safeguarding national security and public health.
