National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has successfully intercepted illicit drug shipments concealed in creative ways, including tins of tomato paste and used clothes, intended for export to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Gatekeepers News reports that the agency’s Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi disclosed this development in a statement on Sunday.
Babafemi said that NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos seized a 20.00-kilogram consignment of skunk hidden within tins of tomato paste on Friday, September 8th.
Additionally, they intercepted a methamphetamine shipment weighing 1.60 kilograms concealed in used clothing at a courier company in Lagos.
556 grams of Canadian Loud originating from Canada and destined for Tunji Adebayo in Ikorodu, Lagos was also seized by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, attached to courier firms. Although Adebayo was not present when NDLEA officers visited his residence at 52, Aina Atoloye street, Ikorodu, his younger brother accepted the package on his behalf and was subsequently arrested.
Furthermore, NDLEA operatives raided the hideout of a notorious drug lord, Abdul Rauf (aka ‘Na God’), in Akala, Mushin, Lagos, on Monday, September 4th. During the raid, 1,101 kilograms of Ghanaian Loud were recovered, and three suspects were arrested. The primary drug kingpin remains at large.
In Kogi state, a 22-year-old named Agada Emmanuel was arrested with 77.400 kilograms of cannabis on Thursday, September 7th, along the Okene – Lokoja – Abuja expressway.
On the same road on Monday, September 4th, NDLEA officers seized a total of 369,980 pills of opioids, leading to the arrest of Kabiru Ahmad Abdullahi in Gombe state, who was linked to the drug seizure.
NDLEA operatives also recovered 399 improvised explosive devices from Asana Oluwagbenga Leke, 39, along the Mokwa-Jebba road on Thursday, September 7th. The suspect claimed the explosives were given to him in Ibadan for delivery to someone in Kaduna. He and the recovered explosives were handed over to military authorities in Niger state.
In Ogun state, the arrest of Yinka Azeez at Sabo Lafenwa, Abeokuta, followed the seizure of 41 kilograms of cannabis from Titilayo Adetayo at Sagumu Interchange the day before.
Additionally, two suspects, Muhammad Aliyu, 38, and Abdullahi Zakariya, 40, were arrested in Zaria-Kano Road and Haye Arewa, Hotoro, Kano, respectively, with 426.5 kilograms of skunk seized from them on Tuesday, September 5th.
NDLEA operations led to the arrest of Onyeka Uzor, 25, in Idemili, Anambra state, with 64.8 kilograms of skunk and tramadol, as well as the arrest of Destiny Irabor on Friday, September 8th, with over 180 kilograms of opioids found in his Toyota Sienna bus.
In Kaduna state, Ahmed Yusuf and Rilwan Nura were arrested on Wednesday, September 6th, in connection with the seizure of 100 blocks of cannabis weighing 55 kilograms along the Abuja road.
Additionally, NDLEA operatives destroyed cannabis farms measuring 4.236347 hectares in the Ekudo forest, Onwude LGA, Edo state. In the same state, a raid in the house of Amuodu Egwehide, 40, in Iloje Okpuje, Owan West LGA, led to the recovery of 22 bags of skunk weighing 261.4 kilograms, and a 60-year-old grandma, Mrs. Eunice Egwehide, was arrested with 17 kilograms of the same substance.
In Yobe state, Gapchiya Modu, 26, was arrested with 60 kilograms of cannabis along Kano-Nguru Road, Nguru.
In Imo state, 200 blocks of the same substance weighing 57 kilograms were recovered from Usim Orji, 45, along Aba-Owerri road on Wednesday, September 6th.
Furthermore, after over two months of surveillance, NDLEA operatives arrested Idoko Festus Ifesinachi, 40, a wanted kingpin linked to the importation of 76.9 kilograms of Canadian Loud in a container marked MSDU6686346 at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex in Rivers state on June 2nd. He was arrested at his hideout in Lagos and subsequently transferred to Port Harcourt.
In addition to these drug control efforts, state commands and other formations continued the Agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaigns, targeting schools, worship places, palaces, and local communities, among other locations.
Among them include WADA advocacy visit to His Royal Highness, Emir of Hadejia, Alhaji Adamu Abubakar Maji; the sensitization lectures conducted for members of Hairdressers Association, Ila Orangun; at RCCG, Dominion Tower, Port Harcourt, and for Muslim faithful at Harmony Estate central mosque, Ilorin, among others.
The Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), commended the efforts of NDLEA officers and urged them to continue their excellent work in drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction activities across the country.
