Nigeria’s Anti-narcotic Agency, the National Drugs Laws Enforcement Agency NDLEA has seized 37.5 kilograms of illicit substance across some states of the Federation.
Eleven suspects were arrested in connection with the consignment in operations in Kaduna, Kano and Lagos states.
The NDLEA’S spokesperson Mr Femi BabaFemi disclosed this in a press statement on Sunday.
He said, a freight agent Ogunsina Damilare was arrested at the Lagos airport on Friday 6th January following a bid to export 1.5 kilograms of skunk hidden in foodstuffs to Dubai, UAE through the SAHCO export shed of the Mutala Mohammed International Airport.
He explained that a similar attempt to ship 11.5kgs of the same substance to the United Kingdom was also frustrated when the consignment concealed in a giant wooden sculpture was intercepted by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI) at a courier company in Lagos.
Babafemi said: “curiously, the latter emanated from Ghana with London as destination.”
Also, at the Tincan port in Lagos, a shipment of 24.5kilograms cannabis indica to Nigeria from Montreal, Canada was intercepted by operatives while an N8million bribe offered NDLEA officers by the importer has been secured in an account for the prosecution of the case.
He said: “The importer, Cedrick Maduweke is still at large, one of his accomplices, Steve Isioma Adigwe has been arrested. The consignment was hidden in a used Toyota Sienna vehicle that arrived the port along with three other cars in a container marked MSMU 5082733.”
Also in Lagos, a total of 28,400 tablets of tramadol and over 230kgs of cannabis were seized in operations in Festac town and Lagos Island areas the state where Some suspects arrested including a dispatch rider.
BabaFemi disclosed that in Imo state, a suspect, Amechi Moses was arrested in a follow up operation on Friday 6th January in a commercial bus along Owerri-Onitsha road going to Aba in Abia state.
Meanwhile, 3,672 kilograms of cannabis sativa were recovered from two locations and five suspects arrested in Kaduna during separate raid operations at a warehouse at Rido village on Wednesday 3rd January.
In Kano, NDLEA operatives on Saturday 7th January arrested Kabiru Abdulhamid, 40, with 119 blocks of substance abuse weighing 73kgs at Semugu area.
Reacting to the seizures in the affected commands, the Chief Executive of NDLEA, retired Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa commended the officers for the arrests and seizures.
He charged them and their compatriots across the country to intensify the heat on drug cartels in Nigeria while balancing their efforts on supply reduction with drug demand reduction activities.
