By Kamil Opeyemi
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA in collaboration with other stakeholders including the Customs Service on Friday 31st March conducted a joint examination of two containers marked TRHU 4758549 and TRHU 6936803 where One Hundred and Forty-Three Million Eight Hundred Thousand (143,800,000 tablets) pills of Tramadol 225mg were discovered in 720 cartons weighing 10.3tons (10,386kgs).
According to the agency in a statement on Sunday said the opioid pills, which were mixed with cartons of sweet were imported from India.
“The interception followed credible intelligence and cooperation of sister agencies,” Femi Babafemi the agency’s spokesman said this in a statement on Sunday
In the same vein, officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations, DOGI, have intercepted at a courier firm a cargo of 1.5kg cocaine concealed in a carton declared to contain hair cream, shampoo, hair rollers and burners, going to London, UK.
In Kaduna, operatives on Monday 27th March raided Dan Wata village, Soba LGA where they arrested one Abdurrashid Musa, 33, with 142.8kg cannabis while the principal suspect, Ibro Danwata is still at large.
“Another suspect, Shamsu Abdullahi (aka Waja), 35, was also arrested the previous day during a follow up operation at Rigasa Kaduna, after he had abandoned 80,000 tablets of Diazepam weighing 13.4kg and escaped arrest earlier.
“No less than 63 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 600kg stored in a house at Okpe village in Akoko-Edo LGA were recovered on Friday 31st March when operatives raided the area, while a raid of a warehouse owned by one Shehi Mallam at tomatoes market, Dei Dei Abuja same day led to the seizure of 80 sacks of cannabis sativa weighing 842.4 kilograms,” he said
In Cross River, 12,000 pills of Tramadol 225mg were seized from a female passenger, Talatu Sale Adamu, 46, when the operatives of the agency intercepted the commercial bus she was travelling in along Ogoja/ Katsina-Ala road on Monday 27th March.
“While a suspect, Abraham Alaigwu was arrested at Slaughter, Trans/Amadi area of Port Harcourt, Rivers state with 91.7kg of cannabis on Thursday 30th March, 228kg of same substance was seized from Ayodele Osuya, 35, in a Toyota Camry car around Quarter Guard area of Akure, Ondo state.”
Reacting to the arrest and seizure of intercepted illicit drugs, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa expressed his gratitude to operatives of Apapa, DOGI, Edo, Cross River, Rivers, Kaduna, FCT and Ondo Commands of the Agency for their resilience, professionalism and excellent synergy with other security agencies in their areas of responsibility.
Marwa charged them and their colleagues across the country to continue to raise the bar in their daily attainments.