IN response to President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent order to security agencies to crack down on illicit drug dealers, Imoh Edgal, the Lagos State Police commissioner, and his men swung into action which resulted in the interception of hard drug otherwise known as cocaine worth N250m in street value.

Breaking the news of the discovery of the hard drug to journalists yesterday at the Lagos State police command, Ikeja, Lagos, Edgal disclosed that in view of the Presidential directive, his command mobilised its covert operatives to sniff out those who brings these illicit drugs into the country.

He added that their efforts paid off on December 8, 2017, based on credible intelligence gathering that 1 x 20 feet container number 28023414 with bill of lading number 5313831929 had some baggage of powdery substance suspected to be hard drug.

According to him, “The bag containing the drugs was not declared in the container. In the bag, there are no fewer than twenty two well wrapped parcels otherwise known as the ‘bible’ suspected to contain hard drugs was recovered.

“On the 9th day of December 2017, a Letter No.CR: 3000/LS/DFA/VOLT1 was sent to the forensic science laboratory centre of the Force CIID, Alagbon requesting for a laboratory analysis of the substance suspected to be hard drug. However on the same date, the forensic report of the analysis carried out at the aforementioned laboratory came in a Letter No. CR: 300/X/FSL/41/2017.

“According to the Analyst, the preliminary test of the substance gave positive result for Benzoylecgonine (cocaine). The HPLC analysis confirmed the substance to be Benzoylecgonine or cocaine with a street value of Two Fifty Million Naira (N250,000,000).”

He said the Lagos State Police command would collaborate with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and other sister security organizations to track those who bring these illicit drugs to the country.

–   Dec 12, 2017 @ 17:35 GMT |