•••SEIZES TONS OF ILLICIT SUBSTANCES IN KEBBI, KWARA, FCT
A Four-man notorious trans-border illicit drug syndicate has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, in Adamawa State.
The alleged four notorious drug dealers were apprehended in Konkol and Belel, two villages at Nigeria-Cameroon borderline while trying to crossover to the neighbouring country to sell in retail quantities of tramadol, so as to import Diazepam into Nigeria.
According to the Agency, the suspects were Kabiru Ahmadu; Eric Emil, Abdulmumini Bapetel and Alphonsus Yusuf.
It was gathered that a total of 59.018kg of tramadol, diazepam, exol-5, cannabis sativa and two jerry cans of formalin substance (Suck & Die), were recovered from them.
In Kebbi, about 4,010 ampoules of pentazocine injection were seized on Friday when a commercial vehicle with Sokoto registration number plate: RBA 220 XA was intercepted along Yawuri – Kebbi road.
Two suspects, Muktar Yunusa, 26 and Lukman Aliyu, 30, were arrested in connection with the drugs.
According to the NDLEA, a raid in Oko-Olowo area of Ilorin, Kwara State on Tuesday 26, July led to the arrest of Onaolapo Zakariyau, 50, with 79kg of cannabis sativa.
Also in Abuja, 90 blocks of cannabis (48.2kg) and 700grams of methamphetamine were intercepted at the Jabi motor park while one suspect was arrested in connection with the drug.
In Kano State, about 51 suspects were arrested in a raid at ‘Sky Restaurant’ in Nasarawa area of the State on Friday 29, July. All the suspects were caught with various quantities of cannabis and codeine based cough syrup.
The Director, Media and Advocacy
NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja,Femi Babafemi, said in a statement on Sunday that no fewer than 2,750,000 tablets of tramadol 225mg weighing 1,650 kilograms and worth N1, 375, 000,000, were intercepted at the Apapa Port in Lagos.
“The consignment packed in 55 cartons of Tapentadol and Carisoprodol types of Tramadol was seized during examination of a container number SUDU 7538656 on Saturday 30th July following credible intelligence
“This comes on the heels of similar efforts by anti-narcotic officers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja that thwarted bids by drug traffickers to export various psychoactive substances to London, UK and Dubai, UAE through the Lagos airport in the past week. At least, five suspects have so far been arrested in connection to the attempts
“On Monday 25th July, a Dubai, UAE bound passenger Ms. Ebhodaghei Gloria Osenemeshen was intercepted during the outward clearance of travellers on Rwanda Air via Kigali to Dubai
“The Discovered in her luggage were sachets of Tramadol 225mg concealed inside gari, a cassava product packed among other foodstuffs.” The statement reads.
According to Babafemi, the female suspect allegedly claimed that the bag was given to her by someone in whose house she passed the night on her way to the airport to help deliver to another person in Dubai.
“The following day, Tuesday 26th July, a total of 50 blocks of cannabis sativa with a total weight of 27.1kg concealed inside large quantity of crayfish going to London, UK as part of a consolidated cargo were seized at the SAHCO export shed
“Same day, a Dubai bound female passenger, Emebradu Previous Rachael, was arrested with 1.8kg cannabis packed inside bitter leaf in her luggage while attempting to board Rwanda Air flight to UAE via Kigali.
“The mother of one who hails from Oghara in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State said she was into selling of mens wears before she decided to travel to Dubai to expand her clothing business. She claimed her ex-boyfriend that lives in Dubai, requested her to bring the bag, which contains the illicit substance along with foodstuff.
“In the same vein, operatives at the NAHCO import shed of the airport on Saturday 30th July evacuated cartons of khat leaf with a total weight of 51.50kg. The consignment had earlier come in from Sierra Leone on Royal Air Moroc flight.” Babafemi said
He said the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) commended the officers and men of Apapa seaport, MMIA, Adamawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Kano, and FCT Commands for their vigilance and commitment which resulted in the seizures.
According to Babafemi, Marwa urged the officers and their colleagues across the country not to rest on their oars but to remain resolute in pursuit of the Agency’s goal to rid the nation of llicit substances.
