NDLEA operatives on stop and search operation along Okene-Abuja highway in Kogi state on Thursday 27th Oct intercepted a Chisco branded bus coming from Lagos to Abuja with a consignment of 32.9kgs Meth packaged as tubers of yam; 376 grams of cocaine and 215 grams of heroin.
Femi Babafemi, NDLEA Director Media and Advocacy in a statement on Sunday said, while the bus driver, Chief Pascal Chigozie Nmaram was promptly arrested, a follow up operation in Abuja same day led to the arrest of the recipient of the illicit cargo, Mr. Ikenna Jude Akunne who confessed he was detailed to travel with the consignment to Spain the following day, Friday 28th Oct through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.
He added that in the FCT, operatives on patrol along Kwali-Abuja highway on Monday 24th Oct intercepted a truck with 915.8kilograms of cannabis and arrested three suspects: Kabiru Ibrahim, 40; Muhammad Muawiyya, 30, and Adamu Adamu, 24.
Meanwhile, operatives of the state command of the Agency have destroyed five hectares of cannabis farms at Agbonkete, Iyaya Camp, Igalamela/Odolu LGA, where a suspect, Augustine Agbenyo, 34, was arrested with three sacks of both fresh and dried leaves and stems of the illicit substance.
In Adamawa state, operatives arrested two trans-border traffickers, Abdullahi Mamuda (aka Mama) and Aliyu Abdullahi (aka Garga) at Skylight Hotel in Jambutu, Yola North. A search of their vehicle, an ash coloured Toyota Corolla car with registration number JMT 146 TE (Adamawa), revealed 39, 320 tablets of Tramadol 225mg concealed in different compartments of the doors of the car.
Preliminary investigation shows the trans-border traffickers took off from Onitsha in Anambra State and travelled to Jimeta, Adamawa State where they lodged in the hotel before heading to Belel, a town along the Nigerian - Cameroon border where they would repackage the drugs as ordinary consumables and ferry across the river to Garoa in Cameroon.
Operatives in Ondo state on Friday 28th Oct stormed a 2-bedroom building in Uso town, where they arrested one Okon Etim, 45, with 12 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 207kgs.
Reacting to the strings of arrests and seizures in the past week across Kogi, Lagos, Sokoto, Adamawa, Ondo and the FCT as well as the MMIA and AIIA Commands of the Agency, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), CON, OFR, commended the officers and men of the various commands for their unrelenting commitment to the presidential mandate to clear Nigerian forests and communities of illicit drugs in whatever form. He charged them to remain steadfast and upright at all times.
