The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested three traffickers with a total of 256 kilogrammes of illicit substances seized from them during interdiction operations in Kwara, Kogi, and Niger.
The Director of Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi said that on Dec. 26, a team of NDLEA officers on stop and search duty along the Ilorin-Jebba highway arrested a suspect, Idris Saeed, 19, with 60 blocks of compressed cannabis Sativa, weighing 30kg.
He added that operatives in Niger on similar operations along Jebba-Mokwa road also recovered 240 blocks of the same substance weighing 168 kilogrammes.
Babafemi said that the multi-color sacks of the substance were loaded in a Peugeot J5 bus, with registration number MAG 146 XA, from Lagos going for delivery in Kano.
“In Kogi, operatives intercepted a truck coming from Onitsha, Anambra state to Maiduguri, Borno along Okene-Abuja highway where 9,900 ampoules of pentazocine injection (42kgs) were recovered on Saturday, December 24,” he said.
The NDLEA spokesman also said that a suspect, Ibrahim Jibril, 20, was arrested on the same route with 40 blocks of cannabis Sativa weighing 16kgs coming from Lagos to Jigawa in a Toyota Hiace commercial bus on December 27.
Babafemi quoted the Chairman of NDLEA, retired Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa as commending the officers and men of Kwara, Kogi, and Niger Commands for the arrests and seizures.
Marwa urged them along with their compatriots across the country to step up offensive action against drug cartels in 2023, with an equal focus on drug demand reduction efforts.