- Operatives intercepts 2 million tramadol pills in Kano, Jigawa
- Arrest three Ghanaian ladies for cross border trafficking
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has raided a new 80-room hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos used as a cover for distributing illicit substances and after hours of combing the rooms recovered 589 bags of Canadian Loud, a strong strain of cannabis with a total weight of 417.3 kilograms worth N1,042,500,000.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi, broke the news yesterday.
In a statement, he said three suspects, Eze Ayitu; Ofuokwu Samuel; and Emmanuel Ameh, were arrested during the operation at the five-storey hotel building between April 25 and 26.
Babafemi said two other suspects – Noble Philip and his partner Kenneth – were on the run.
The statement said the items recovered from the Victoria Island, Lagos-based hotel “include Toyota Prado Landcruiser Jeep (Lagos AKD 472 OZ); Toyota Sienna Vehicle (Lagos KJA 79 HJ); Volkswagen Delivery Van (Lagos AAA 525 JE); Kia Ceranto Car (Lagos BDG 860 GQ); Grand Caravan Dodge (Lagos APP 847 YF); 74 new TV sets; 10 used TV sets; and 13 refrigerators, among others”.
Babafemi said in another major interdiction in Jigawa State with a follow-up in Kano, their operatives on April 23 seized consignments of opioids being moved from Kano to Niger Republic and Yobe State through Jigawa.
He said the psychoactive substances were being moved in a Toyota Sienna vehicle marked ABJ 182 NW about 2:30am on Wednesday along Kano-Ringim Road, Gumel town when anti-narcotic officers intercepted them with two suspects – Abba Ibrahim, 28, and Shuaibu Umar, 29 – arrested.
Babafemi added: “Recovered from the Sienna vehicle were 200,000 pills of tramadol 250mg and 217,500 capsules of pregabalin. A swift follow up in Kano led to the arrest of the supplier, 41-year-old Jamilu Muhammad, at his residence at Mil Tara, Layin Technical, Kano while additional 1,584,000 pills of tramadol 250mg stacked inside a Nissan 18-seater bus marked DAL 372 XA and a room in his house were discovered and evacuated. This brings the total number of the recovered opioids to 2,001,500 pills.’’
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Also, in Seme Border, Badagry, Lagos, three Ghanaian ladies were arrested at the Gbaji Check point by their operatives while attempting to smuggle combined 4.8kilograms of Ghana Loud, a strong strain of cannabis into Nigeria. The suspects arrested include Haziza Zubairu, 42; Samirat Mustapha, 43; and Jamila Salifu, 26.
“In Kano, a 60-year-old grandma Safiya Shamsu was on Friday 25th April nabbed at Samegu area of Kumbotso Local Government Area with 5.6kg skunk, a strain of cannabis, while another suspect Muntari Labaran, 35, was taken into custody following the seizure of 100 litres of codeine syrup from him at Yelwa area of Dala Local Government Area,’’ he added.
“A total of 3,814.9kg skunk was destroyed on two farms in Ugbodu community, Ovia Northeast LGA, Edo state on Thursday 24th April when NDLEA operatives raided the plantations where three suspects: Samuel Samson, 26; Daniel Peter, 20; and Abel Edah, 31, were arrested,’’ he added.
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd). praised the operatives for their efforts.