NDLEA Intercepts Australia Bound Goods, Seize 40ft Trailer
A 40ft trailer load of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 2,217.6 kilogrammes, has been intercepted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at an abandoned fuel station in Kagini, Kubwa area of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Abuja.
The truck was intercepted while the drug in it was being distributed into six vehicles for onward distribution to some Northern states.
A statement on Sunday by the anti-narcotics agency spokesman Femi Babafemi said the intelligence-led operation, which took place at 1:20 a.m. on Saturday, led to the seizure of not only the large illicit consignment but also the trailer and six vehicles: a Toyota Van, a Toyota Camry car, a Toyota Sienna bus, a JAC 4-wheel-drive Hilux truck, a Toyota Corolla car, and a Vento Passat car, as well as the arrest of a suspect: 42-year-old Isaac Desmond.
Babafemi added that the consignment was loaded into the trailer at Uzebba in Owan local council area of Edo State.
In another raid in the FCT, according to the spokesman, two suspects: Anthony Nnamdi, 42, and Abba Ali, 27, were arrested by NDLEA officers at Nyanya, where a combined 1.398 kilogrammes cocaine and a precursor substance used in preparing crack cocaine were recovered from them.
He said no fewer than 20 wraps of cocaine weighing 330 grammes had been recovered from a cargo going to Australia at a logistics firm in Lagos by officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) in NDLEA, noting that the cocaine parcels were concealed around the body of face cream containers in the shipment.
Babafemi added that, following processed intelligence, 338,200 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth more than N1,190,168,200.00 in street value were intercepted in two containers watch-listed by the agency.
He revealed that the illicit consignments were discovered during NDLEA operatives, Customs, and other security agencies’ joint examination of the containers last Thursday and Friday at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers state.
In Lagos, the traditional chief priest of the Igunuko shrine, Alpha Beach Ajah Lekki, where 2,760 kilogrammes of skunk were recovered on 25 October 2024, Bariu Aliu (alias Malo), has been arrested by NDLEA operatives after over three months of the manhunt for him. Though two of his accomplices were earlier arrested at the shrine last year and had since been charged and convicted in court, Bariu was said to be the leader of the syndicate.
A suspect, Habibu Ya’u, 23, was nabbed by NDLEA officers who raided Gadar Tamburawa, Zaria Road, Kano, last Thursday, where they recovered 45 blocks of cannabis weighing 24.2 kilogrammes and 40,800 pills of opioids, including tramadol from him.
Babafemi said that with the same vigour, commands and formations of the agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities, among others, in the past week.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd), while commending the officers and men of the agency’s DOGI, FCT, PHPC, Lagos, and Kano commands for the arrests and seizures, stated that their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country, especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts, are well appreciated.
