Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted three trailer loads of illicit drugs comprising 3,450,000 pills and 344,000 bottles of codeine syrup at Abule-Ado in Amuwo Odofin Council of Lagos State where three suspects were also arrested in connection with the seizure.
Director of Media and Advocacy at NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, explained that the multi-billion Naira consignments were loaded into two 40 feet container trucks and another 20 feet truck at the AML Bonded Terminal at Abule-Osun, near the International Trade Fair Complex before heading to a warehouse at Abule-Ado where the NDLEA officers eventually arrested the suspects and recovered the consignments on Thursday, May 9, 2024.
In NDLEA’s weekly press release, Babafemi disclosed the identities of the three suspects to be the warehouse agent, identified as Cosmos Obiajulu 51; Ridwan Balogun 25 and Banjo Tayo 30, both drivers of the two trucks, while the third driver jumped off to escape arrest.
In the same vein, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 arrested a suspect identified as Nwankwo Ejike in Coker area of Lagos where 100 litres of codeine syrup were recovered from him, while 60 litres of the same substance were seized from Clinton Akinye in the area same day.
Also, 37.5kg of cannabis sativa, popularly known as Indian Hemp, loaded in a Toyota Camry car was recovered from another suspect identified as Adegbola Segun 47, when the car was intercepted at Mile 12 area of Lagos on Monday, May, 6, 2024.
Another consignment of illicit drugs comprising 59,106 pills of Tramadol and different quantities of codeine syrup and Rohypnol being taken across the border to Garua, Cameroon, was intercepted by NDLEA officers on Monday, May 6, 2024 along Mubi-Yola Road, Adamawa State. Two suspects linked to the drugs identified as Abubakar Auwal 39 and Adamu Abubakar 25, (a.k.a Bamanga), a trans-border trafficker, who was to take the consignment from Mubi across to Cameroon, were promptly arrested.
Read Also: Nigeria, Chinese Customs sign pact on trade facilitation
In Edo state, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, May 11, 2024 raided the Iguiye forest in Ovia North-East Council, where a total of 11, 636.185kg cannabis was destroyed on three farms measuring 4.654474 hectares, while an additional 188kg of the same psychoactive substance was recovered and a suspect named Itah Nyong was arrested in an overnight operation.
A 75-year-old man identified as Jibril Audu was also arrested on Friday, May 10, 2024 with 7.5 kilograms of cannabis at Oke-Asa village, Ijero-Ekiti, Ekiti state during a raid operation, while a 70-year-old woman, identified as Tikwase Nytor was arrested with 15.6kg of the same substance on Thursday, May 9, 2024 during a raid at Achusa and International Market Road in Makurdi, Benue State.
The NDLEA Commands across the country balanced their drug supply reduction operations with War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaigns to schools, markets, worship centres and communities. Some of these include WADA sensitisation lecture to Muslim faithful at Sultan Bello Jummat Mosque, Kaduna; students of Oduduwa University and Oduduwa Polytechnic, Ipetumodu, Osun State; Nigerian Tulip International Colleges (Boys Section), Kano and the Federal University of Technology, Babura, Jigawa.
Others are Father Tansi International College, Okpuno Awka, Anambra State; WADA advocacy visit to the First Lady of Delta State, Deaconess Tobore Oborevwori and similar advocacy visit to the Founder City of God cathedral, Cardinal James Omolaja Odunmbaku who was joined by Chairman, Ojodu Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Hon. Segun Odunmbaku in Ojodu area of Lagos State.
While commending the efforts of the Lagos, Edo, Ekiti, Benue and Adamawa commands of the NDLEA for jobs well done in the past week, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), assured that officers and men of the Agency will continue to work with local and international partners to ensure that the scourge of substance abuse and trafficking in illicit drugs was reduced to the barest minimum in the country.
