By Ibironke Ariyo
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said it recovered large quantities of banned Tramadol and opium pills during separate raids conducted over the past four days across four states.
NDLEA’s spokesman, Mr Femi Babafemi, who disclosed in a statement yesterday in Abuja, said the agency’s operatives carried out the raids between last Wednesday and Saturday.
According to him, where the raids were carried out included Kano, Gombe, Borno and Niger states respectively.
Babafemi that NDLEA operatives nabbed a suspected drug trafficker in Kano State with 36,000 pills of tramadol along Danbatta-Kazaure road, last Wednesday.
He said: “A total of 25,000 pills of tramadol and exol-5 were recovered from another suspect at Gombe Roundabout on Friday.
“Two suspects were also arrested the same day with 49 blocks of compressed skunk that weighed 29kg at Kwadom, Yemaltu Deba Local Government Area(LGA) of Gombe state.
“In another development, in Borno, NDLEA officers on patrol along Baga Road, Maiduguri, on Saturday, intercepted 74,360 pills of opioids in a Mercedes Benz C180 car marked GUB 409 AA.”
According to him, a 44-year-old suspect is being detained in connection with the seizure.
“Three suspects were on Saturday arrested during an intelligence-led raid at Narayi High Cost area of Chikun LGA, Kaduna State.
“In Bayelsa, a 63 year-old grandmother was on Thursday arrested at the Osiri area of Yenagoa in connection with the seizure of 163 litres of skuchies, ” he said.
Babafemi further disclosed that four suspects were last Thursday, similarly arrested by NDLEA’s operatives along Okene-Lokoja highway, Kogi. State.
He said the suspected drug traffickers were arrested in connection with the seizure of 2 kg methamphetamine recovered during a search of their vehicle coming from Onitsha, Anambra State to Minna in Niger State.
“Similarly, in Abia, NDLEA officers on Monday, July 14, raided the base of a notorious drug dealer, at 4 Niger str, Ugwa road, Aba”, adding that various quantities of tramadol, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and a total of N736,000 monetary exhibit were allegedly recovered from him.
Babafemi also disclosed that the agency’s operatives also raided a popular hotel located at 115 Ogudu road in Kosofe, Lagos State, where different party drugs were being distributed and sold.
He said the raid followed credible intelligence and surveillance which confirmed a wanted suspect as the arrowhead of the drug network.
“At the time of the operation, 1.30kg of Chocolate Cannabis, 900grams of gummies and 22.9grams of skunk were recovered from the suspect’s room in the hotel.
“Other items recovered from the hotel include three vehicles .
“The hotel which is a 20- room facility was running as a family business, housing mother and siblings,” he said.(NAN)
In another development, the NDLEA, yesterday, said it has arrested a 60-year-old drug kingpin, ending seven years of evading the law.
Babafemi said the suspect was caught while attempting to transport large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine to the South East Zone and other parts of the country.
He said the suspect, who had been on the wanted list of the NDLEA since 2019, was eventually nabbed at his hideout in Isheri area of Lagos on July 13.
This, he said, followed the interception of some of his consignments at 5:45 am on the same day at Ilasamaja on the Apapa-Oshodi expressway.
According to him, a team of NDLEA officers, acting on credible intelligence, had arrested one of the kingpin’s couriers, adding that the courier was heading to Onitsha, Anambra, in a white Toyota Sienna vehicle.
The agency’s sniffer dogs, Babafemi said, were subsequently brought in to search the vehicle.
According to him, 7.6 kg of cocaine and 900 grams of methamphetamine were found hidden in body compartments of the vehicle.
He said a follow up operation was promptly carried out at the kingpin’s hideout in Isheri.
Additional 1.8kg of cocaine and 1.3kg of methamphetamine, he said, were recovered from his residence.
Babafemi also said the NDLEA operatives in a joint operation with Aviation Security personnel of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria recovered 7,790 pills of tramadol and rohypnol.
He said the drugs, which were in the luggage of an Italy-bound passenger, were intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport last Wednesday.
He said the suspect, who was going to Italy via Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight, claimed he purchased the drugs himself, hoping to sell them in that country at higher prices.
In another arrest at the Lagos airport, Babafemi said NDLEA operatives at the export shed last Thursday intercepted 17 parcels of skunk, a strain of cannabis.
He said the drugs, which weighed 1.70kg, were concealed in packs of a popular cereal going to Pakistan as part of a consolidated cargo.
According to him, a suspect was arrested in connection with the incident.
In another development, Babafemi said 45,000 pills of tramadol were seized from a 30-year-old suspect on the Onitsha-Enugu expressway on Wednesday.
Babafemi added that officers of the Taraba State command on the same day apprehended two suspects with illicit drugs.
He said 10,000 caps of tramadol and a gram of cannabis were recovered from them in Gassol Local Government Area.
