Twenty-four suspected drug traffickers and dealers including a 42-year-old man who was taking thousands of concealed opioid pills to an insurgents’ enclave in the Banki area of Borno State have been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The operations led to the seizure of over 7,609 kilograms of assorted illicit drugs in eight states.
Femi Babafemi, NDLEA Director of Media & Advocacy in a statement on Sunday, said, “In Borno State, a 42-year-old suspected supplier of illicit drugs to insurgents in Banki, a border region between Nigeria and Cameroon, Ahmad Mohammed was arrested by NDLEA operatives on Friday 9th February at Bama checkpoint. When his luggage was searched 20,000 capsules of tramadol were recovered from him while on his way to deliver the opioid consignment in the border town.
“The bulk of the seizures was made in Nasarawa State where NDLEA operatives acting on credible intelligence on Sunday, February 4, intercepted a truck marked Lagos JJJ 64 YC conveying 367 jumbo bags of cannabis sativa weighing 4,037kg from Akure, Ondo State to be delivered in the Shabu area of Lafia, the state capital.”
He said three suspects identified as Shuaibu Yahaya Liman, 35; Monday Audu, 33, and Linus Samuel, 42 have been arrested in connection with the seizure.
He said, “The following day, Monday, February 5, operatives in Abuja, FCT arrested the duo of Jibrin Shuaibu, 23, and Prosper Innih, 17, with 169 bags and 80 blocks of compressed cannabis sativa weighing 1,961.5kg.
“The cannabis sativa was concealed in a truck with registration number Ogun WDE 557 XC. The truck was intercepted during a stop-and-search operation along Abaji-Abuja highway on their way from Uzeba to Dei-Dei in the Federal Capital Territory.
“In another operation by NDLEA operatives in Abuja on Tuesday, February 6, a suspect, Abdulhameed Dauda, 27, was arrested with 89kg of the same psychoactive substance loaded into his truck in Owo, Ondo State to be delivered at Gwagwalada in the FCT.
“On the same day, operatives also intercepted another driver, Hassan Ade, 30, transporting 696.5kg of the same substance loaded in Idoani, Ondo State to be delivered at Gwagwalada and Dei-Dei in FCT.
“A follow-up operation led to the arrest of a mother of three children, Mrs. Joy Chukwuka, 42, linked with the consignment.
“In Ondo State, apart from the seizure of 633.5kg of cannabis at Eleyere, Ogbese in Akure North LGA, NDLEA operatives also recovered 59 jumbo bags of the same substance loaded in a truck marked GAD 287 XA heading to the Northern part of the country.
“Detergents were sprayed on the cannabis bags ostensibly to suppress the odour of the psychoactive weed, while 192 packs of table water were loaded on top to conceal the illicit consignment.
“Not less than 187kg of the same substance was seized by operatives at Sapele Road, Benin, Edo State while in Kano, NDLEA officers on Monday, February 5, arrested 58-year-old Bashir Attahir in the Bachirawa area of the state with 216,000 pills of tramadol 250mg.
“Another suspect, Ejike Moses Nmenme, 47, was nabbed the following day, Tuesday, February 6 with 25,190 capsules of tramadol and different quantities of Rohypnol and codeine syrup along Emir Road, Sabon Gari area of the city while the duo of Yusuf Abdullahi Musa, 35, and Yusuf Musa, 28, were nabbed at Gadar Tamburawa, with 1,000 ampoules of tramadol injection on Thursday, February 8.”