Anthony Iwuoma
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has made a huge drug bust, seizing over 24, 311 kilogrammes of assorted drugs.
The seizures involved heroin, codeine as well as Arizona and Colorado variants of cannabis at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja and the Tincan seaport, Apapa, Lagos.
This is coming barely a week after the agency intercepted N6 billion worth of Amphetamine, popularly known as jihadists’ drug at the Apapa Port in Lagos.
The first seizure came on Friday, September 3, 2021 at the SAHCO export shed of the MMIA where two consignments of 10.350kg heroin and 25.2kg cannabis from South Africa were intercepted.
In series of sting operations between Saturday, 4 and Monday, September 6, in different parts of Lagos, four suspects were arrested, including Mrs. Bello Kafayat Ayo who was nabbed on Shino Street, Palmgroove area of the state.
At the Tincan seaport, Apapa, narcotic officers intercepted a 40ft container loaded with 22,590 kilogrammes of Barcadin Codeine syrup on Monday, September 6, following intelligence received from international partners on the container since May 2021.
The container was also found to include 4,020.03kg of analgesic tablets and 47 cartons of insulated hot pots used to conceal the illicit drugs, all imported from India. Equally, on Friday, September 10, a consignment of Colorado weighing 17.5kg and hidden inside a Grand Caravan Dodge vehicle shipped in a 40ft container from Montreal, Canada, was also intercepted and seized at the Tincan port.
Meanwhile, a 20-year-old graduate, Miss Bee Okoro, has been arrested in Abuja for producing and selling drugged candies and cookies. A 27-year-old dispatch rider, Idewo Raimi who handles door-to-door delivery for her was also arrested.
The suspects who were arrested at Garki Area 11 on Friday, September 10, with a number of their drugged products and 400 grammes of Loud and Arizona, confessed they had been in the drug business for over a year.
In Edo state, a total of 1,425.2 kilograms of compressed blocks of cannabis sativa were seized in a raid on Aviosi outskirt, close to Uzebba, Owan west LGA, on Monday 6th Sept, while on the same day one Yahaya Mamman was nabbed along Zaria-Danja road, Kaduna with 10.3kg Tramadol and 60.5kg Exol-6. The previous day, Thursday 5th Sept, one ThankGod Danladi was arrested at Tudun Wada area of Jalingo, the Taraba state capital with 44.2kg of cannabis.
In the same vein, NDLEA operatives in Kwara state on Tuesday 7th Sept, arrested a 36-year-old lady, Yusuf Sherifat who recently completed a jail sentence following her conviction by a Federal High Court in Ilorin for dealing in 22 grammes of crack cocaine. Her latest arrest along Specialist Hospital Road, Alagbado, Ilorin, followed intelligence that she has resumed sale of crack cocaine in Ilorin metropolis. This time around, she devised another means of delivering drugs along the road to known customers who contact her via telephone calls.
In Gombe State, raids across the state between Wednesday, September 1, and Friday 10th September 10, led to the arrest of at least nine drug dealers from whom assorted illicit drugs, weighing over 150kg were recovered. One of such was the interception of a DAF truck loaded with 128kg of psychotropic substances, coming from Onitsha, Anambra State along Gombe-Yola road.
In his reaction to the latest drug busts at the Lagos airport, Tincan seaport and across the FCT, Edo, Kaduna, Taraba, Kwara and Gombe states, Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), commended the commanders, officers and men of the commands for their resilience and bravery.
He said the series of arrests and seizures across the country further affirmed NDLEA’s zero tolerance for production, trafficking and abuse of any illicit substance, warning that drug dealers who are yet to have a change of heart must be ready to contend with the new NDLEA.