Stop-and-search operatives discover fake $20 million
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said they intercepted fake $20 million during a stop and search operation, along the Abaji-Lokoja road, in the federal capital territory (FCT).
Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said the operatives arrested the driver of the Lagos-to Abuja bound commuter bus ferrying the counterfeited currencies.
NDLEA equally said it busted a warehouse laden with controlled drugs in Alaba market, Lagos state. According the agency, the billionaire warehouse owner disguises as an automobile spare parts dealer, and he is currently on the run.
NDLEA said: “Recovered from the warehouse owned by a wanted billionaire drug baron, include: 1.4 million (1,400,000) pills of tramadol 225mg weighing 826kgs; 3.2 million (3,200,000) pills of codeine with gross weight of 3,360kgs; and 2,841 cartons of codeine syrup containing 284,100 bottles with 28,410 litres of the psychoactive substance, with a combined street value of four billion eight hundred and twenty million five hundred thousand naira (N4,820,500,000) only.” The agency puts the total worth of the seized drugs at N4,820,500,000.
One suspect, Paulinus Ojukwu, who acts as chief security officer to the wanted billionaire, was arrested during the raid, the agency said.
