Two suspects: Monday Okeke and Chigozie Emeka, were on March 26 arrested by operatives of the National Drug Enforcement Agency in Oniwaya, Yaba and Agege areas of Lagos State, where they recovered from them 842,560 pills of opioids, especially tramadol, in addition to 15 litres of codeine syrup and 596 grams of Molly.
The Director of Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, made this known in a statement issued on Sunday.
Babafemi further revealed that an attempt by Okeke to bribe the NDLEA officers with N5 million cash was rebuffed, while the money was documented as part of exhibits to prosecute the suspects in court.
In Bayelsa State, the bid by three suspects: Ebuka Eze, 31; Ugochukwu Okoro, 44; and Kingsley Uzim, 27, to smuggle opioids, including codeine, molly, tramadol and diazepam, weighing a total of 73.425 kilograms to the creeks in Southern Ijaw area of the state was thwarted on March 27, 2024 by NDLEA operatives at Swali jetty, Yenagoa, where Ebuka and Ugochukwu were arrested, while Uzim was nabbed at Amasoma in a follow up operation.
The drugs were concealed in jumbo sacks and conveyed to the jetty in a tricycle.
While two suspects: Eniola Muyideen and Bankole Shuaib, were arrested with 137 blocks of cannabis weighing 71kg during a raid at Orile Imo, Ogun state on March 29, 2024, NDLEA operatives in Taraba State recovered 39,980 pills of tramadol from a suspect, Abubakar Mohammed, 33, in Lankaviri village, and another suspect, Apaji Vincent, 29, arrested in Wukari on March 28 with 131kg cannabis sativa.
In Abia State, Nwachukwuu Chinedu, 28, was arrested on March 29 at Akara Ahuba, Isikwuato LGA by NDLEA officers.
Recovered from him were 46.65kg cannabis and different quantities of tramadol, methamphetamine and rohypnol as well as N71,500 monetary exhibit.
At least, 127.5kg cannabis loaded in a Volkswagen Vento saloon car marked NTT 215 AA was recovered along Isua/Kabba Road, Idoani area of Ose LGA, Ondo State, while a 30-year-old female suspect, Chinasa Christopher, was arrested with 400 bottles of codeine syrup in Sabon Gari area of Kano.
The owner of a consignment of illicit drugs intercepted along Zaria-Kano Road, Bakura Goni, was arrested at Mile 2 Market in Lagos on March 26 in a follow up operation and flown to Kano to face charges.
The consignment consisting of cannabis and tramadol weighing 73.8kg was earlier seized in a truck conveying it from Lagos to Kano.
While 278kg of cannabis going to Idoani in Ondo State was recovered during a raid at Oloma-Okpe forest, Akoko-Edo LGA, Edo State, not less than 3,065.255kg of the same psychoactive substance was razed on two farms at Amahor waterside forest in Igueben area of the state, where three suspects: James Thankgod, Wisdom James and Akpa Festus, were arrested on March 28.
In the same vein, Commands across the country intensified their War Against Drug Abuse advocacy lectures in the past week.
These include: Sensitisation lectures for students of Federal University of Technology, Ihiagwa, Owerri, Imo State; students and teachers of Community Secondary School, Eyo-Abasi, Oron, Akwa Ibom State; students and teachers of Oke Iragbiji Grammar School, Osun State; commercial motorcycle riders in Oye Ekiti, Ekiti State; commercial motorcycle riders at Ankpa, Kogi State; and Muslim faithful at Aliade Central Mosque, Aliade, Benue State.
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While commending the officers and men of the MMIA, Lagos, Edo, Ogun, Kano, Abia, Bayelsa, Ondo, and Taraba Commands of the Agency for their balanced efforts in the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd), equally applauded their counterparts across the country for intensifying their WADA advocacy lectures.