The Operatives of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)have intercepted consignments of cocaine and pharmaceutical opioids concealed in ladies’ sanitary pads and hair treatment cream containers, heading to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Cyprus at three courier firms in Lagos.
This was disclosed by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, in a statement on Sunday.
NDLEA said that in 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 officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) during the examination of cargoes going to Ireland on Tuesday.
Babafemi also stated that 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.
In the same vein, the NDLEA announced that a total of 525 pills of tramadol 225mg and ecstasy (MDMA) concealed in ladies’ sanitary pads going to Cyprus were seized at another courier firm in Lagos by its operatives on Tuesday, 3rd September, while a shipment of 200 ampoules of promethazine injection and pentazocine injection hidden in food items and herbs heading to London, UK, was also seized by operatives on Wednesday, 4th September.
According to Babafemi, the operatives equally intercepted another consignment of tramadol 225mg concealed in granulated melon that came from Cameroon and was heading to South Africa 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, with men of the Nigerian Customs Service, while a suspect was already arrested in connection with the seizure.
“In Ekiti State, NDLEA operatives supported by men of the Nigerian Army on Tuesday, 3rd and Wednesday, 4th September stormed three camps inside the Ise-Ekiti forest reserve, in Ise/Orun Local Government Area, 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 the 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,” Babafemi said.
He continued, “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 the 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, in 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 the 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, while 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, 17.126 kilograms of cannabis, and a locally made pistol.”
Reacting to the development, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers and men of DOGI, PHIA, Ekiti, Kano, Osun, Taraba, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kogi, Bauchi, and Borno Commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures.
Marwa also added that their operational successes, along with those of their colleagues across the country, are well appreciated.
He, however, urged them not to rest on their laurels but to continue intensifying ongoing drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
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