In a major interdiction in Jigawa State with a follow up operation in Kano, NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence on Wednesday 23rd April seized consignments of opioids being moved from Kano to Niger Republic and Yobe State through Jigawa.
The psychoactive substances were being moved in a Toyota Sienna vehicle marked ABJ 182 NW at about 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday along Kano-Ringim road, Gumel town, when anti-narcotic officers on patrol intercepted them with two suspects – Abba Ibrahim, 28, and Shuaibu Umar, 29 arrested.
Recovered from the Sienna vehicle were 200,000 pills of tramadol 250mg and 217,500 capsules of Pregabalin.
A swift follow up operation in Kano led to the arrest of the supplier, 41-year-old Jamilu Muhammad, at his residence located at Mil Tara, Layin Technical area of Kano while additional 1,584,000 pills of tramadol 250mg stacked inside a Nissan 18-seater bus marked DAL 372 XA and a room in his house were discovered and evacuated.
This brings the total number of the recovered opioids to 2,001,500 pills.
Barely a week after NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, uncovered 20 parcels of cocaine concealed inside religious books going to Saudi Arabia at a logistics company in Lagos, the operatives have again intercepted another shipment of 46 wraps of cocaine weighing 547grammes hidden in body cream going to the Middle East country.
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The seizure was made on Wednesday 23rd April at a courier firm in Lagos.
Another consignment intercepted same day include 1.8kg pentazocine injection and 60grammes bromazepam tablets heading to Canada.
At the Seme border area of Badagry Lagos, three Ghanaian ladies were on Sunday 20th April arrested at the Gbaji check point by NDLEA operatives while attempting to smuggle combined 4.8kilograms of Ghana Loud, a strong strain of cannabis into Nigeria.
The suspects arrested include Haziza Zubairu, 42; Samirat Mustapha, 43; and Jamila Salifu, 26.
In Kano, a 60-year-old grandma Safiya Shamsu was on Friday 25th April nabbed at Samegu area of Kumbotso LGA with 5.6kg skunk, a strain of cannabis, while another suspect Muntari Labaran, 35, was taken into custody following the seizure of 100 litres of codeine syrup from him at Yelwa area of Dala local government area.
A total of 3,814.9kg skunk was destroyed on two farms in Ugbodu community, Ovia North East local government area, Edo State on Thursday 24th April when NDLEA operatives raided the plantations where three suspects – Samuel Samson, 26; Daniel Peter, 20; and Abel Edah, 31, – were arrested.
The War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, social advocacy activities by NDLEA commands equally continued across the country in the past week.
Some of them include WADA sensitization lecture delivered to students and staff of Dan-Doro Community Arabic Secondary School, Doro, Katsina; St. James Anglican School, Badariya, Kebbi; Federal Government Girls College, Tambuwal, Sokoto; and members of Oganiru age grade, Onitsha, Anambra, while the Lagos State Strategic Command of NDLEA paid WADA advocacy visit to the Ayangburen of Ikorodu, Oba Kabir Adewale Shotobi, among others.
While commending the officers and men of DOGI, Lagos, Kano, Jigawa, Edo and Seme commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) equally praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for ensuring a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
