By EZEKIEL OBI, Abuja –
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives have intercepted four tons of illicit and controlled drugs in seven states within one week.
The NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja.
Mr. Babafemi listed the drugs include nitrous oxide popularly known as laughing gas, skunk, codeine syrup, methamphetamine and tramadol.
He said that the seizures were carried out during interdiction operations in Lagos, Kogi, FCT, Jigawa, Kaduna, Sokoto and Edo states.
He explained that 1,194 cylinders of laughing gas with a total weight of 2,547.2 kilograms was intercepted in Toyota Sienna buses on Sept. 22, along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway.
Two suspects: Onyebuchi Ikpozu and Kenneth Igwe, conveying the consignment to Abuja for distribution, have been taken into custody.
He said one of the Toyota Sienna buses marked KTU 582 HV was conveying 99 cartons containing 594 cylinders weighing 1,267.200kgs, while the other bus, registered FKJ 329 YA, was loaded with 100 cartons with 600 cylinders weighing 1,280kgs.
According to him, a 48-year-old woman, Mrs Ugo Eluba was also arrested in Abuja in a follow up operation after 2,400 ampules of pentazocine injection and 100,000 tablets of Exol-5 intercepted in Kogi were traced to her.
“In the FCT, operatives intercepted 977 kilograms of skunk on Sept. 20 in a trailer marked LSR 343 XW, bearing cartons of maggi.
“The skunk consignment was loaded into the truck at Ipele junction in Ondo state.
“959kgs of the substance were meant for distribution in Sokoto state, the rest was to be dropped off at Gwagwalada.
“Two suspects, Auwal Mohammed and Abdullahi Abubakar have been arrested in connection with the seizure,” he added.
Babafemi also said two suspects: Mutari Abdulazeez, 31, and Ayuba Madaki, 28, were arrested on Sept. 23 at Zuba, FCT with different quantities of methamphetamine, cannabis and 13, 930 pills of tramadol.
He further said that during a stop and search operation along Kano-Hadejia road in Jigawa, two suspects, Shuaibu Yusif, 27, and Abubakar Hussaini, 20, were arrested on Sept. 23, with 89.1kgs of skunk.
Babafemi said that 6,000 ampules of pentazocine injection were recovered from a suspect, Usman Sidi, 35, on Sept. 18 along Abuja-Forest road, Kaduna State, while on his way to Bauchi State.
He said that a follow up operation in Bauchi led to the arrest of the actual owner of the consignment, Dominic Chukwuma, 35, on Sept. 19.
The NDLEA spokesman added that at least 2.58kgs of Diazepam and 36.55kgs of pentazocine iinjectionwere recovered in Chukwuma’s house.
“Two other suspects: Inuwa Nuhu and Isiyaku Dahiru Sani were also arrested same Tuesday in connection with the seizure of 49 blocks of cannabis sativa concealed in a black sack weighing 26kgs in a commercial vehicle coming from Ogere in Ogun to Kano.
“A total of 183kgs of Ghana Loud, a strain of cannabis, were also recovered from the body compartments of a J5 bus intercepted in Lagos on Sept. 20,” he said.
Babafemi disclosed that operatives in Sokoto State, on Sept. 19 arrested one Charles Okeke, 44, with 473 bottles of codeine syrup at Unguwar Kosai area of Sokoto.
The NDLEA spokesman said that in Edo, 365 blocks of compressed cannabis sativa weighing 258kgs were recovered from a Toyota Camry car marked KTU 886 EZ at Igarra, Akoko Edo LGA.
Meanwhile, the agency in a massive operation from Sept, 11 to Sept. 13, in a thick forests in Ijesha Isu-Ekiti, Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State, destroyed 40 tons of cannabis plants covering 16 hectares of farmland.
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