Nigeria’s Anti-narcotic Agency, the National Drugs Laws Enforcement agency (NDLEA), has arrested a village head of Gidan Abba in Bodinga local government area of Sokoto state, Abubakar Ibrahim and ten other suspects in interdiction operations in which over Nine Hundred Thousand pills of pharmaceutical opioids were recovered.
Also, 1,251kgs of cannabis and khat as well as 46.637 kilograms of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin were recovered by operatives of the NDLEA across seven states in Nigeria.
The agency’s spokesperson Mr Femi BabaFemi disclosed this in a press statement on Sunday.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos, NDLEA operatives attached to the SAHCO import shed on Wednesday 26th October intercepted a total of 15 cartons containing 802,000 pills of Tramadol imported from Dubai, UAE and Karachi, Pakistan.
On the same day, operatives at the SAHCO export shed intercepted cans of tomato paste going to the United Kingdom.
“A thorough search of the consignment revealed that the tomato cans were used to conceal 36 pellets of cannabis with a gross weight of 21.30 kilograms while a cargo agent, Sodehinde Akinwale has been arrested in connection with the seizure,” the statement said.
Similarly, on Friday 28th October, operatives attached to the NAHCO import shed of the Lagos airport also seized five cartons of dried khat leaves, weighing 107.70kgs that came in from Bangkok, Thailand through Dubai on an Emirates Airline flight.
A follow up operation in collaboration with men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) in the area led to the seizure of 11.90kgs Meth concealed in the heads of dried fish going to Dubai, UAE on 5th August has led to the arrest of a 30-year-old bricklayer, Babatunde Quadri Mamowora on Thursday 27th Oct in Sango Ota area of Ogun state.
In the same vein, a 27-year-old Madu Chukwuemeka Miracle has been arrested by operatives at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, AIIA, Enugu on arrival from Nairobi, Kenya via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Wednesday 26th October.
“A search of his three bags revealed seventy-six (76) foreign bathing soaps made with cocaine in one of the bags while another has two plastic bottles containing cream like liquid, which tested positive to cocaine.”
“The cocaine bars weight 10.650 kilograms while the liquid cocaine weighs 2.496 kilograms, bringing the total weight to 13.146 kilograms,” the statement further explained.
In Kogi state, NDLEA operatives on stop and search operation along Okene-Abuja highway on Thursday 27th Oct intercepted a Chisco branded bus coming from Lagos to Abuja with a consignment of 32.9kgs Meth packaged as tubers of yam; 376 grams of cocaine and 215 grams of heroin.
Meanwhile, operatives of the state command of the Agency have destroyed five hectares of cannabis farms at Agbonkete, Iyaya Camp, Igalamela/Odolu LGA, where a suspect, Augustine Agbenyo, 34, was arrested with three sacks of both fresh and dried leaves and stems of the illicit substance.
Also, in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, operatives on patrol along Kwali-Abuja highway on Monday 24th Oct intercepted a truck with 915.8kilograms of cannabis and arrested three suspects.
In another development, operatives of NDLEA arrested two trans-border traffickers, Abdullahi Mamuda (aka Mama) and Aliyu Abdullahi (aka Garga) at Skylight Hotel in Jambutu, Yola North, Adamawa state with over thirty-nine thousand Tramadol tablets.
“Preliminary investigation shows the trans-border traffickers took off from Onitsha in Anambra State and travelled to Jimeta, Adamawa State where they lodged in the hotel before heading to Belel, a town along the Nigerian – Cameroon border where they would repackage the drugs as ordinary consumables and ferry across the river to Garoa in Cameroon”.
In Ondo state on Friday 28th October, NDLEA operatives stormed a 2-bedroom building in Uso town, arrested one Okon Etim, 45, with 12 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 207kgs.
Reacting to the strings of arrests and seizures in the past week across Kogi, Lagos, Sokoto, Adamawa, Ondo and the FCT as well as the MMIA and AIIA Commands of the Agency, the Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa commended the officers and men of the various commands for their unrelenting commitment to the presidential mandate to clear Nigerian forests and communities of illicit drugs in whatever form.
He charged them to remain steadfast and upright at all times.
