- Grandma, others arrested over two tons of illicit drugs recovered
No fewer than 399 pieces of Improvised Explosive Devices were recovered by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency from one Asana Leke, 39, along the Mokwa-Jebba road on Thursday, September 7.
The suspect, who said the explosives were handed to him at a park in Ibadan, Oyo State, to be delivered to someone in Kaduna State, has since, alongside the exhibits, been transferred to the military authorities in Niger State.
Besides the various drug control efforts, NDLEA state commands and other formations also continued the anti-narcotics agency’s War Against Drug Abuse advocacy campaigns in schools, worship places, palaces and local communities, amongst others.
NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, made the development known on Sunday in an official email correspondence received by our correspondent.
He also noted that NDLEA operatives intercepted consignments of skunk concealed in tomato pastes, and methamphetamine hidden in used clothes, meant for export to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
“While the skunk in tomato pastes consignment weighing 20.00 kilogrammes was intercepted on Friday, September 8, at the SAHCO export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, the meth shipment with a gross weight of 1.60kg was seized at a courier company in Lagos State.
“Another consignment of 556 grammes of Canadian Loud sent from Canada to one Tunji Adebayo in Ikorodu, Lagos was also intercepted by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, attached to courier firms. Though Adebayo was not home when operatives visited his house at 52, Aina Atoloye Street, Ikorodu, he however directed his younger brother to sign for the package on his behalf. The brother was promptly arrested,” Babafemi said.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives on Monday, September 4, raided the enclave of a notorious drug lord in Akala, Mushin, Lagos, Abdul Rauf (aka ‘Na God’) where 1,101kgs of Ghanaian Loud were recovered and three suspects arrested while the wanted kingpin remains at large.
In Kogi State, 22-year-old Emmanuel Agada was arrested with 77.400kgs cannabis on Thursday, September 7, along Okene – Lokoja-Abuja expressway, while a total of 369,980 pills of opioids were earlier recovered on the same road on Monday, September 4 and the suspect linked to the seizure, Kabiru Ahmad Abdullahi, was arrested in a follow-up operation in Gombe state.
In Ogun State, a follow-up operation led to the arrest of Yinka Azeez at Sabo Lafenwa, Abeokuta, on Tuesday, September 5, following the seizure of 41kgs cannabis from Titilayo Adetayo at Sagumu Interchange the previous day.
At least, two suspects, Muhammad Aliyu, 38, and Abdullahi Zakariya, 40, were arrested on Zaria-Kano Road and Haye Arewa, Hotoro, Kano State, respectively, over 426.5 kilogrammes of skunk seized from them on Tuesday, September 5.
While Onyeka Uzor, 25, was arrested at Idemili, Anambra state, with 64.8kgs skunk and tramadol, another suspect, Destiny Irabor was nabbed on Friday, September 8, with over 180kgs of opioids loaded in his Toyota Sienna bus. In Kaduna, two suspects: Ahmed Yusuf and Rilwan Nura were arrested on Wednesday 6th September in connection with the seizure of 100 blocks of cannabis weighing 55kgs along Abuja road.
In Edo state, NDLEA operatives stormed the Ekudo forest, Onwude LGA where they destroyed cannabis farms measuring 4.236347 hectares. In the same vein, operatives on Thursday, September 7 raided the house of one Amuodu Egwehide, 40, in Iloje Okpuje, Owan West LGA, where they recovered 22 bags of skunk weighing 261.4kgs, while a 60-year-old grandma, Mrs. Eunice Egwehide was arrested in the town same day with 17kgs of same substance seized from her.
A suspect, Gapchiya Modu, 26, was arrested with 60kgs of cannabis along Kano-Nguru Road, Nguru, Yobe state, while in Imo state, 200 blocks of the same substance weighing 57kgs were recovered from Usim Orji, 45, along Aba-Owerri road on Wednesday 6th September.
After over two months of surveillance, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, September 6, arrested a wanted kingpin, Idoko Ifesinachi, 40, linked to the importation of 76.9kgs Canadian Loud intercepted in a container marked MSDU6686346 at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers state on June 2. He was arrested at his hideout in Lagos and taken to Port Harcourt.
