NDLEA intercepts jumbo bags of cannabis, seizes 524,720 opioids in three states
…Arrests drug queen with narcotics at Lagos Airport
The National Drug Law Enforcement (Agency) has intercepted over 91 jumbo bags of cannabis, weighing 1,029.5kg concealed in a truck-mounted natural gas tank on Doma Road, around 500 Housing Estate, Lafia in Nasarawa.
This is contained in a statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi said that a 52-year old suspect, Ernest Ojieh, was arrested in connection with the seizure on Saturday.
This he said was barely four days after operatives at Agwan Doka, Lafia, seized 38 large bags of the same substance with a total weight of 367kg.
“Two suspects, Abdullahi Iliyasu, 30, and Bashir Mohammed, 29, were arrested over the seizure,” he said.
Babafemi said that over half a million pills of pharmaceutical opioids were seized and suspects arrested in raid operations across Kaduna and Adamawa.
“ In Kaduna alone, 294,400 pills of Tramadol and Diazepam were seized from Shaban Nasir, Aminu Usman and Shamsudeen Hussaini, on Abuja-Kaduna express road.
“ Sa’idu Yahaya and Umar Abubakar were as well arrested during a follow-up operation in Kano, all on Friday,” he said.
In the same vein, over 227,000 different grades of Tramadol tablets were seized during the raid of a patent medicine store at Sabon Layi, close to Mubi Main Market, Mubi North LGA, Adamawa State on July 3.
“Recovered from the store where a suspect, Nasiru Abubakar, 27, was arrested, included Tramadol 250mg (aka Boko Haram).
“Royal Tramadol 225mg (aka Vectra); Tramaking Tramadol 225mg (aka Jan Dara); Tramadol 200mg (aka Dogari) and Tramadol 100mg (aka Green), were all recovered.
“Another suspect, Idris Adamu, 25, was arrested in a shoe shop in the same Sabon Layi where over 5,000 tablets of Tramadol 225mg were recovered from him,” he said.
Similarly, operatives of the NDLEA have arrested a 27-year-old drug queen, Mrs Opoola Mujidat in possession of narcotics concealed in fetish bowls at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja (MMIA), Lagos.
The suspect planted the drugs concealed in fetish bowls containing scary native black soap and sponge on two Oman-bound male passengers, apprehended at the departure hall of the airport.
The Director Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi said that the passengers: Raji Kazeem and Akinbobola Omoniyi were travelling together to Oman, the Middle East, on Ethiopian Airlines flight on Monday July 11, when they were intercepted by NDLEA operatives at the airport.
He said that a search of their luggage revealed wraps of cannabis sativa hidden in bowls of native black soap and sponge packed into a bag containing food items, which Kazeem was carrying.
“Both Kazeem and Omoniyi immediately alerted the anti-narcotic officers that Mujidat who was still within the vicinity gave the bag containing the illicit substance to them at the airport.
“She was promptly arrested. The lady accepted responsibility and stated that she brought the luggage for the two passengers to give to her husband in Oman.
“Mujidat, who hails from Oyo East LGA in Oyo State, confessed during preliminary interview that the bag containing the food items were packed by her with different items, including the black soap used to conceal the illicit substance.
Babafemi quoted the Chairman, NDLEA, retired Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa as commending the officers and men of the MMIA Command for the arrests, seizures and their dexterity.
Marwa warned the drug cartels that no matter the ingenuity of their modes of concealment, the dedicated workforce of the agency would always exposed them and their tricks.
