The pastor in charge of the Celestial Church of Christ, Agonvi Sea Beach, Sakpo area of Seme border, Badagry in Lagos State, Pastor Afolabi Hodonu, 45, and his wife, Mrs. Success Hodonu, 35, were on Thursday 2nd April arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at Gbaji checkpoint.
A search of their Honda Pilot SUV led to the recovery of blocks of skunk weighing 11kg concealed in hidden parts of their vehicle.
The arrest of the couple followed the apprehension of a fake security agent, Sunday Samuel, 35, at the same checkpoint on Monday 30th March while conveying 24.5kg skunk from Seme border to Lagos.
In Adamawa State, NDLEA officers on patrol along Namtari Road, Yola South, on Monday 30th March intercepted a trailer marked RUW 947 XA transporting 48,000 pills of tramadol.
The truck driver, Abdulaziz Ismail Korede, was arrested while a follow-up operation led to the arrest of the recipient, Idris Adamu.
While 60-year-old Idiatu Oladejo was arrested with 15kg skunk in Isale Osun, Osogbo, Osun State on Wednesday 1st April, NDLEA operatives acting on credible intelligence raided the Itaogbolu forest, Akure, Ondo State where they recovered 351 kilogrammes of skunk and its seeds.
No fewer than 28,600 capsules of tramadol were seized from a 66-year-old Aminu Usman Gembu when he was arrested at Aliade, Benue State on Wednesday 1st April.
In Edo State, a suspect Roland Owie, 37, was arrested on Monday 30th March following the raid of his warehouse at Egbanke community, Orhionmwon local government area, where 1,378 kilogrammes of skunk were recovered.
A notorious drug dealer, 40-year-old Ayantola Omodunmomi (a.k.a Iya Elle) was on Wednesday 1st April arrested at Eleta area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Her arrest followed intelligence and surveillance on how she used her 11-year-old daughter, Anjola, to deliver illicit drugs to her customers.
At the time of her arrest, 45.6kg skunk was recovered from her warehouse.
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 Okere Grammar School, Saki, Oyo; Shasha Comprehensive High School, Alimosho, Lagos; Ma’ahad Ahmad Turaki Islamiyya, Sabon Gari, Kano; Ezi-Awka Community Secondary School, Awka, Anambra, and Madrasatul Ihsan, Area One Tsafe, Zamfara State, among others.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA, Seme, Borno, Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Edo, Adamawa and Benue 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) also praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for pursuing a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
“These successful operations are a testament to the agency’s evolving intelligence capabilities and our unwavering commitment to choking the supply lines of drug cartels. Whether they hide behind legitimate businesses, religious titles, or complex concealment methods, we will find them,” Marwa stated.
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