The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, says its operatives have intercepted more than 1.3 million opioid pills and 6,000 kilograms of cannabis with a combined street value of more than N3.4 billion in operations across eight states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The agency said in a statement Sunday that the operations also led to the arrest of a suspected drug trafficker who allegedly impersonated a senior police officer to evade security checks while transporting illicit drugs.
The 49-year-old suspect, Innocent Ekpe, was arrested Sept. 16 along the Benin-Onitsha Expressway in Asaba, Delta State, with 292.48 kilograms of skunk hidden in a Toyota Sienna bus. NDLEA said he allegedly used a forged identity card bearing the name Godwin Emeka, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, to evade checkpoints. A suspected accomplice, 39-year-old Nduka Joseph, was also arrested.
At the Tin-Can Island Port in Lagos, NDLEA said officers intercepted 1,200 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 603.75 kilograms and valued at N1.81 billion. The drugs were concealed inside 31 black jumbo bags loaded into two Toyota Sienna vehicles in a 40-foot container shipped from Montreal, Canada.
In Edo State, officers arrested 45-year-old Matthew Ossai at an auto-repair workshop on Agbor Road, Benin City, which the agency said was being used as a front for storing illicit drugs. They recovered 48 kilograms of Canadian Loud and 152 grams of methamphetamine.
In Niger State, three young suspects — Bashir Usman, 20; Abubakar Nuhu, 18; and Abdulrahman Abdulwahab, 18 — were arrested along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway with two locally fabricated AK-47 rifles, a pistol, a magazine and nine rounds of 9mm ammunition.
Two other suspects, Aminu Isyaku, 23, and Jamilu Habibu, 25, were arrested along the Abaji-Abuja Highway with more than 1.1 million assorted tramadol tablets and capsules, codeine syrup, methamphetamine and Exol tablets.
In Lagos, NDLEA said Onyeka Ofor was arrested at his residence in Aguda, Surulere, with 48,900 pills of tramadol, while 59 kilograms of cannabis were intercepted at a logistics company, leading to the arrest of Luke Ugokwe.
The agency also arrested Ibrahim Hudu, 43, at Apongbo with 998.38 kilograms of nitrous oxide gas.
In Gombe State, 154,480 capsules of tramadol were recovered from two suspects, Sabi'u Umar, 27, and Hassana Muhammad, 19, who were arrested separately at Barunde and Gombe Main Market.
In Imo State, Ifesinachi Godwin, 25, was arrested along the Owerri-Onitsha Road with 43.85 kilograms of skunk.
NDLEA operatives also arrested four suspects during a raid and destruction of a two-hectare cannabis farm in Ita-Ogbolu forest, Ondo State. The agency said 5,000 kilograms of skunk were destroyed and 48 kilograms of fresh and dried cannabis were recovered.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended the officers involved in the operations and urged them to maintain what he described as a balanced approach to drug control efforts.
The agency said its commands and formations also continued drug-abuse awareness activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities as part of its War Against Drug Abuse campaign.
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