The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) operatives have intercepted consignments of cocaine and pharmaceutical opioids concealed in ladies’ sanitary pads and hair treatment cream containers, en route to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Cyprus, at three courier firms in Lagos.
At one of the logistics companies, no fewer than 30 parcels of cocaine, weighing 1.1 kilograms and concealed in hair cream containers, were recovered by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) during the examination of cargo going to Ireland on Tuesday, 3rd September 2024. Another consignment of 24 parcels of cocaine, weighing 862 grams and also hidden in hair cream containers meant for delivery in the UK, was intercepted at the same company on Friday, 6th September.
Similarly, a total of 525 pills of tramadol (225mg) and ecstasy (MDMA), concealed in ladies’ sanitary pads and bound for Cyprus, were seized at another courier firm in Lagos by NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, 3rd September. Meanwhile, a shipment of 200 ampoules of promethazine injection and pentazocine injection, hidden in food items and herbs heading to London, UK, was seized by operatives on Wednesday, 4th September. Another consignment of tramadol (225mg) concealed in granulated melon that came from Cameroon and was bound for South Africa was intercepted on Friday, 6th September.
No fewer than 550,000 pills of tramadol were also intercepted at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Port Harcourt, on Monday, 2nd September, during a joint examination of a cargo that came from Delhi, India, in collaboration with the Nigerian Customs Service. A suspect has already been arrested in connection with the seizure.
In Ekiti State, NDLEA operatives, supported by men of the Nigerian Army, stormed three camps inside the Ise-Ekiti forest reserve in Ise/Orun Local Government Area on Tuesday, 3rd and Wednesday, 4th September, where over 100,000 kilograms of cannabis spread across 51 hectares of farmland were destroyed. The affected settlements include Aba Saalaja with 23 hectares, Aba Paanu with 12 hectares, and Aba Arogunmatidi with 16 hectares, all within the Ise-Ekiti forest reserve.
Two suspects, Bala Musa, 42, and Danladi Muhammad, 44, were arrested on Friday, 6th September, along Toro-Jos Road, Kaduna, with 305kg of cannabis concealed in a false compartment of a J5 Boxer bus marked YLA 682 XM. Another suspect, Aminu Ayuba, 24, was arrested in possession of 18 kilograms of the same substance at Makarfi Town. Two others, Umar Usman, 40, and Zubairu Kabiru, 45, were arrested along the Zaria-Kaduna Highway in possession of 1,300 tablets of tramadol, all on the same day.
In Jigawa State, Uzairu Ya’u, 30, was nabbed with 32.6kg of cannabis on Thursday, 5th September, at Koran Shehu, while operatives in Kogi, on Wednesday, 4th September, intercepted 77,300 pills of tramadol, diazepam, and exol-5, as well as 1,230 bottles of codeine in a commercial bus driven by Attai Okolo, 68, along Aloma-Ejule Road, Ofu LGA, Kogi State. Another suspect, Mohammed Idris, 56, was nabbed along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja Expressway on Tuesday, 3rd September, with 42.4kg of cannabis coming from Lagos en route to Kano.
While NDLEA operatives in Borno State arrested Idris Muhammad, 40, at the Ramat area of Maiduguri on Thursday, 5th September, with 13,100 pills of tramadol, their counterparts in Kano on Wednesday, 4th September, nabbed Hakilu Usman, 35, with 25.8kg of cannabis and 3,000 pills of diazepam along Kano-Daura Road.
In Taraba, no fewer than 87,790 pills of tramadol were recovered from Musa Adamu, 30, when he was arrested in Zing. Meanwhile, in Osun State, a raid on the home of a drug kingpin, Mayowa Abayomi Awe (a.k.a Bishop), in Ilesa on Wednesday, 4th September, led to the seizure of 43 grams of crack cocaine, 23 grams of methamphetamine, 17.126kg of cannabis, and a locally made pistol.
With the same vigour, commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities to schools, worship centers, workplaces, and communities, among others, in the past week. These include WADA enlightenment lectures for students of Kano State Polytechnic, Kano; staff of Don Bosco Science Academy, Ukhun, Ekpoma, Edo State; members of the Peace Corps, Osogbo, Osun State; the Council of Traditional Rulers, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State; and taxi drivers at Central Motor Park, Sokoto, among others.
While commending the officers and men of DOGI, PHIA, Ekiti, Kano, Osun, Taraba, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kogi, Bauchi, and Borno commands of the Agency for their arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), noted that their operational successes, and those of their compatriots across the country, are well appreciated. He urged them not to rest on their oars but to continue intensifying ongoing drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
