The CFA, backed by the French treasury, is the legal tender in Francophone West and Central Africa accepted in 14 countries.
Its Director, Media and Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this yesterday in Abuja, said the suspected counterfeit notes were seized from a commercial bus travelling from Lagos to Kano. “A search of the bus led to the seizure of the 4.8 million dollars and 57 million CFA suspected to be counterfeits,’’ he stated.
Babafemi also lauded the jailing of an acting district head in Sokoto, Alhaji Umar Mohammed (aka Dan Bala) for five-and-a-half years for dealing in drugs.
A Federal High Court in Sokoto, presided over by Justice Ahmad Mahmud, sentenced the acting district head after the NDLEA preferred a four-count charge of drug dealing against him in October 2022.
The NDLEA told the court that Mohammed was in possession of and dealing in 436.38kg of Indian hemp and 7kg of other psychotropic drugs.
The court sentenced Mohammed to two years on each of the first two counts with an option of N1 million fine, and eight months on each of the third and fourth counts without an option of fine.
On October 11, NDLEA operatives stormed Orue Forest in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo where they arrested one Happy Akashili (37) and Solomon Uwesue (40) in a hut located inside an Indian hemp farm.
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According to Babafemi, the farm measured 2.4 hectares and was destroyed, adding that 92kg of already processed skunk were also recovered there.
He added that 49kg of skunk was seized at Ogbeturu camp in the area.
Babafemi also said the agency had been advancing its advocacy on drug supply reduction with the War against Drug Abuse (WADA) in campaigns in schools, markets, worship centres and communities, adding that one of the flagship programmes of the advocacy was the WADA sensitisation lecture on drug use and mental Health for students of 15 secondary schools at the University of Ibadan.
The sensitisation lecture was also delivered in schools in Badagry, Lagos State; in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State; in Awka, Anambra State; in Gombe; Gombe State in Benue, Benue State, Zamfara and Kano.
Meanwhile, the NDLEA has taken into custody two wanted heads of transnational criminal organisations with multi-billion-naira worth of illicit drugs and assets seized from them. This was after weeks of intelligence-led operations across the country and outside Nigeria.
According to Babafemi, the arrest of the suspected drug lords came on the heels of the interception of some consignments of cocaine and heroin.
Babafemi said the drugs, which were buried in the bellies of two traffickers heading to Paris, France and Doha, Qatar, were arrested by NDLEA officers at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.
He said operatives at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos, on October 10 succeeded in taking into custody Hakeem Salami.
He added that the suspect was the arrowhead of “Tajudeen Babatunde Abioye Transnational Criminal Organisation” involved in the illicit trade of several narcotics.
This, he said, included Cocaine, Heroin, Methamphetamine, and Ephedrine which were traded between Nigeria, Brazil, Ghana, South Africa, Mozambique, and Europe.
According to him, the suspect fled Nigeria to South Africa upon the arrest of a member of his syndicate, Suleiman Oba, at the Lagos airport on August 25 over an attempt to export 25.10kgs of ephedrine to South Africa.
“Salami was, however, smoked out of hiding through partnership with South African authorities and other intelligence and investigative mechanisms.
“While some of his luxury vehicles have been seized and his home in Surulere Lagos sealed, other members of the cartel already in custody include Suleiman and Godwin Edet Mathew.
“In his statement, he claimed he was into the importation of building materials from China to Nigeria and used to sell gold in South Africa before delving into the illicit drug trade about two years ago,” he said.
In the same vein, Babafemi said the head of another cartel, Ikechukwu Okafor (aka Jantu) and his wife, Ifeyinwa Okafor, was also taken into custody on October 5.
This, he said, was when NDLEA operatives raided their hideout at 9 Awa Street, Ago Palace, Okota area of Lagos.
He said the NDLEA operatives recovered 27.566 kilogrammes of methamphetamine concealed in a blue box and two sacks, ready for export to Europe and Asia.
“Their Lexus RX350 marked ABJ 512 AY parked in the house was also seized during the operation. Their arrest followed weeks of intelligence gathering about the activities of the criminal network,” he said.
However, at the Abuja airport, operatives on October 6 arrested a suspected drug trafficker, Nwofor Ejiogu, 45, during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Doha.
Babafemi said that after a body scan revealed he ingested cocaine, he was placed under observation during which he allegedly excreted 75 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.653kgs.
“At the point of his arrest, Nwofor, who was the last passenger to board his flight, offered to compromise an NDLEA officer with $3,000 to free him.
“The following day, October 7, another trafficker, Nwufo Charles, 45, was also arrested while attempting to board Lufthansa Airlines flight LH 0595 to Paris, France via Frankfurt, Germany.
“After being put through a body scanner, he was taken into a recovery room where he excreted 96 wraps of heroin, he ingested with a total weight of 1.413kgs,” he said.
Kidnapping: Troops rescue four kidnapped Fed. Varsity Gusau students
Troops of the Operation Hadarin Daji of the Nigerian Army, in collaboration with the operative of the Zamfara Police Command have rescued the four kidnapped students of the Federal University Gusau (FUGUS).
