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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Nigeria seizes $9.9-million heroin shipment from Iran |
| 2010-11-20 |
| [Arab News] Nigeria seized $9.9 million worth of heroin concealed in auto parts shipped from Iran, its anti-drugs agency said on Friday, days after the West African country reported Tehran to the UN over an illegal arms seizure. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said the haul at the Apapa seaport in Lagos on Thursday, one of its biggest recent seizures, was based on "strong intelligence" received from foreign collaborators about four months ago. Based on the intelligence, the agency had closely monitored the consignment and some key players behind its shipment before it arrived in Lagos, NDLEA front man Mitchell Ofoyeju said. "The NDLEA ... decided to get a welder to cut open the engine parts and behold, we found hidden inside them 130 kg of heroin with a street value of about 1.5 billion naira ($9.91 million)," Ofoyeju told Rooters. "The consignment was from Iran and we have jugged three Nigerians connected with the illicit drugs." Nigeria reported Tehran to the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society Security Council last week after its secret service intercepted an illegal arms shipment from Iran at its main port of Lagos last month. Rockets and other explosives hidden in containers of building materials were shipped to Nigeria from Iran in an apparent breach of UN sanctions imposed over Tehran's refusal to halt a sensitive nuclear program. Nigeria is not a major narcotics consumer, but like several other coastal West African nations, it is a major transit hub for trafficking in hard drugs from Asia and Latin America to Western markets thanks to lax customs controls and corruption. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 Seized, yes! Destroyed? |
| Posted by: borgboy 2010-11-20 23:59 |
| #6 Maybe some one is paying them more to rat out the Iranian's. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2010-11-20 15:23 |
| #5 Baksheesh not paid? Yes, but on two major shipments, lotp? Something is very odd. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-11-20 13:01 |
| #4 Baksheesh not paid? |
| Posted by: lotp 2010-11-20 12:50 |
| #3 Good lord -- they've decided not to be corrupt in Lagos? What is the world coming to? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-11-20 11:44 |
| #2 Looks like the IRGC is getting some appropriations cutbacks this year. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-11-20 08:26 |
| #1 hmmmm arms, then heroin? It would appear that someone is watching Iran shipments? Who could it be? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-11-20 00:26 |