National Drug Law Enforcement Agency says it’s on the trail of one Cedrick Maduweke, an importer who shipped cannabis to Nigeria.
Femi Babafemi, the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, said in a statement on Sunday that Maduweke bribed officials of the agency N8m for the consignment, while noting 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.”
However, The Chairman, NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), direct men of the agency to intensify the heat on drug cartels in the country.