Drugged cookies, others seized in raids across Abuja, Edo, Kaduna, Taraba, others
Barely a week after the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) intercepted N6 billion worth of Amphetamine, popularly known as jihadists’ drug, at the Apapa port in Lagos, operatives of the agency have seized over 24, 311 kilogrammes of heroin, codeine as well as Arizona and Colorado variants of cannabis in fresh drug busts at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, and the Tincan seaport, Apapa, Lagos.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, in a statement yesterday, said the first seizure came on Friday, September 3, 2021, at the SAHCO export shed of the MMIA, where two consignments containing 10.350kg heroin and 25.2kg cannabis from South Africa were intercepted.
It revealed that in series of sting operations between September 4 and September 6, in different parts of Lagos, four suspects were arrested.
The statement said, “At the Tincan seaport, Apapa, narcotic officers intercepted a 40ft container loaded with 22,590 kilogramsme of Barcadin Codeine syrup on Monday September 6th, 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 10th, 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.”
It also revealed that a 20-year-old graduate, Miss Bee Okoro, was arrested in Abuja, for producing and selling drugged candies and cookies.
NDLEA said, “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 400grams of Loud and Arizona, confessed they have 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, September 6th, 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, September 5th, one ThankGod Danladi was arrested at Tudun Wada area of Jalingo, the Taraba state capital with 44.2kg of cannabis.”
The statement revealed that NDLEA operatives in Kwara State on September 7 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 grams of crack cocaine.
It explained that her latest arrest along Specialist Hospital Road, Alagbado, Ilorin, followed intelligence that she had 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 contacted her via telephone calls, the agency added.
According to the anti-drug agency, “In Gombe State, raids across the state between Wednesday, September 1st and Friday, September 10, led to the arrest of at least nine drug dealers from who 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 te Federal Capitl Territory (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 affirm 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.
