The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested an ex-convict, a female online vendor and several others during coordinated raids carried out across Jigawa, Lagos, Ogun, Edo, Delta, Oyo, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Enugu and Kwara states.
The Director of Media and Advocacy at NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, detailing several arrests and seizures across the states.
He said operatives in Edo State on Tuesday, January 13, stormed the Arokpa forest in Uzebba town, Owan West LGA, where they arrested a drug lord and recovered 320kg of skunk and seeds.
In a separate operation in the FCT, Abuja, NDLEA officers on Friday, January 16, tracked and arrested a 44-year-old woman involved in the online sale of illicit drugs, recovering 2.2kg of skunk and several litres of cannabis oil produced in her kitchen at her Kaura District residence.
Babafemi added that another suspect was also arrested on Tuesday, January 13, at his residence on 12 Biskira Street, Abacha Estate, Abuja, with 148.3 grams of cocaine and skunk.
Also, 118.1kg skunk was seized from two suspects at Fadeyi area of Mushin Lagos on Friday, Jan. 16 adding that not less than 116kg of the same substance was recovered from a warehouse at the new market area of Enugu the same day.
Similarly, two suspects were on Thursday, Jan. 15 arrested by NDLEA operatives along Onitsha -Asaba expressway in Delta, while conveying 410,800 pills of tramadol.
“Other drugs intercepted include 84.2 litres of codeine syrup; 82,250 tablets of diazepam; 900 tabs of swinol and 65 pills of Molly,” he said.
In Oyo state, a suspect was nabbed on Thursday, Jan. 15 at Moniya, Ibadan, with 321 litres of skuchies, and 2.5kg Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis.
Babafemi said that another suspect was caught the same day at Odo-Ona, Ibadan, in possession of 5.4kg Scottish Loud; 1.696kg skunk and 2.5kg Colorado, bringing the total weight to 9.696 kilograms.
In another raid at Agbeni area of the state capital, 52,430 pills of tramadol and bromazepam were recovered from the store of Orji Edwin, currently at large, on Saturday, Jan. 17.
In Kwara state, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, Jan. 13 raided a residential building at Gamo area of Ilorin where they seized 42 bags of skunk that weighed 387.40kg.
Babafemi said that a total of 157,519 bottles of codeine syrup were discovered in a container at the Apapa port in Lagos during a joint examination of the shipment by NDLEA, Customs and other security agencies on Friday, Jan. 16.
In the same vein, an ex-convict, was arrested with various quantities of skunk and exol-5 pills along with his accomplice in Ringim, Jigawa, on Saturday, Jan. 17.
“Before his arrest, he attempted to escape by climbing the roofs of many houses in his bid to escape.
He added that the suspect was armed with a machete, which he used to threaten NDLEA operatives and even inflicted injury on one of the officers.
Meanwhile, NDLEA commands and formations across the country sustained their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns over the past week, engaging schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities.
The outreach programmes included enlightenment lectures at Umar Bin Khathab Islamiyyah School, Kurna, Kano; Tumbey College, Kajola Maya, Ikorodu, Lagos; Anglican Secondary School, Makurdi, Benue; sessions with members of the Katsina Emirate; and engagements with residents of Maitumbi community in Minna, Niger State, among others.
NAN
