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Nabs Notorious Drug Dealer in Rivers Island, Bandits’ Supplier in Zamfara
- Odibo Victory
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted consignments of cocaine concealed in a local mortar and the false bottom of a backpack packaged for shipment to China and Italy through a Lagos-based logistics company.
The seizures were disclosed in a statement signed by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday.
According to the statement, operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI) made the interceptions on Thursday, recovering 250 grams of cocaine factory-fitted into the base of a local mortar packed in a carton destined for China and another 500 grams hidden in the false bottom of a backpack being shipped to Italy.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested a 38-year-old suspected notorious drug dealer, Ugo Gift Okonkwo, at Eagle Island, Port Harcourt, following credible intelligence.
The agency said the suspect was apprehended on July 26 with various quantities of cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine, Swinol, tramadol and codeine syrup.
In Anambra State, NDLEA officers on a stop-and-search operation at MGS Roundabout, Onitsha, intercepted a truck marked XK 131 BDG loaded with 26,000 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 3,960 kilograms. The truck driver, Chinedu Nwanze, 40, was arrested during the operation on July 27.
Similarly, operatives in Delta State recovered 331.84 kilograms of skunk from a Toyota Sienna bus with registration number KUJ 26 DV along the Kwale-Ughelli Expressway on July 26.
In Nasarawa State, a 64-year-old suspect, Joseph Nwaeke, was arrested on July 28 at Asso Angwan Muazu in the Karu area with 68 kilograms of skunk and 29 grams of methamphetamine.
The agency also said its operatives in Zamfara State intercepted a 27-year-old suspect, Sani Umar, along the Zaria-Gusau Highway on July 27 with 7,400 pills of 225mg tramadol believed to be intended for supply to criminal elements.
Beyond enforcement operations, the NDLEA said its commands across the country sustained the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign through sensitisation programmes in schools, places of worship, workplaces and communities.
According to the statement , awareness lectures were delivered to students and staff of Hausawa Special Primary School in Kano, Royal Crown School in Oluyole, Ibadan, Government Secondary School in Ibi, Taraba State, and commercial drivers at Challenge Bus Terminal Park in Ibadan, among other locations.
The report added that the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations as well as the Rivers, Anambra, Delta, Nasarawa and Zamfara commands for the successful operations.
Marwa also urged officers across the country to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control through enforcement and preventive advocacy.