The NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this in a statement yesterday in Abuja, said the NDLEA operatives had conducted intelligence-led stop and search operations in Gwarimpa, Jahi, and Galadimawa areas of the FCT on July 30.
He named the arrested suspects as Sabo Sule, 24; Samuel Nnamdi, 28; and Idris Jibrin, 28, adding that a total of 149.8 grams of Canadian Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, were recovered from them.
“Two other suspects: Aliyu Abubakar, 25; and Adekunle Agbabiaka, 30, were arrested along Abaji-Gwagwalada expressway with 91.1kg skunk, a strain of cannabis, on Saturday, August 2,” he said.
Babafemi said in Lagos that the NDLEA officers, acting on intelligence at the weekend, arrested a man, Joseph Michael with 3.3 kilogrammes of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis in Mushin.
He said another suspected drug peddler, Ibrahim Sulaiman, was nabbed in the Iwaya area of Yaba with 16.5 litres of skuchies last Friday.
According to him, no fewer than 100,000 pills of tramadol capsules were seized from a suspect, Hussein Yusuf, 37, at an NDLEA checkpoint along Vandeikya-Ogoja road in Benue state on Friday.
He said operatives in Edo State on the same day raided a warehouse in Ekpoma where a suspect, William Alabi, 44, was arrested and 233.5kg skunk recovered.
In another development, operatives of the NDLEA, according to Babafemi, intercepted consignments of cocaine and tramadol 225mg concealed in 71 vehicle side mirrors being sent to Libreville, Gabon.
Babafemi said the drugs were shipped through the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos, adding that not less than three suspects linked to the cargo have already been arrested in follow-up operations.
He said: ‘The first batch of the consignment consisting 57,420 pills of tramadol 225mg and 57 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.60kg were intercepted in a cargo going to Gabon on Air Côte d’Ivoire on Saturday, July 19.
“A popular cargo agent, Ihekweme Osinachi handling the shipment was immediately arrested, after which further investigation led to the arrest of another suspect Uzochukwu Chukwurah on Sunday, July 20.”
“Eleven parcels of cocaine with a total weight of 1kg were later recovered from four additional side mirrors being prepared for export found in the home of Uzochukwu on Monday, July 21.
“This brings the total number of parcels of cocaine to 68 weighing 2.60 kilograms,” he added.
In a related development, the NDLEA operatives on August 1 arrested a businesswoman Mrs. Rosanna Nwafor at her shop within the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo, Lagos.
Babafemi said her arrest followed the interception of 100 grams of cocaine and 300 grams of phenacetin.
This, he said, was a cutting agent, concealed in ladies’ lipsticks going to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, through the export shed of the Lagos airport on July 10.
“Two cargo agents linked to the shipment were earlier arrested before the eventual arrest of Nwafor who runs the criminal trade as a family business with her husband Remigus Nwafor, currently on the run.
“In her statement, Mrs. Nwafor admitted she bought the lipsticks used to conceal the illicit drugs while her husband handled the actual concealment,”he said.
Babafemi said commands and formations of the agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities to schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities among others in the past week.
They include WADA enlightenment lectures to students and staff of Ciroma Ibrahim Islamiyya School, Potiskum, Yobe; Sultan Maccido Institute for Qur’an and General Studies, Wamakko, Sokoto.
There were also metro drivers of Borno Express Transport Services, Maiduguri, Borno State; and worshippers at Seventh Day Adventist Church, Abakpa Nike, Enugu State.
The Osun State command of the NDLEA also paid a WADA advocacy visit to Oluwo of Iwo land, Oba Abdurasheed Adewale Akanbi among others.(NAN)
