During interdiction operations in Lagos, Kogi, FCT, Jigawa, Kaduna, Sokoto, and Edo states, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives intercepted over four tons of illicit and controlled drugs, including consignments of nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, skunk, codeine syrup, methamphetamine, and tramadol.
According to the NDLEA, on Friday, September 22nd, 1,194 cylinders of laughing gas weighing a total of 2,547.2 kilos were intercepted by NDLEA agents along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway.
In a statement issued on Sunday, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the two suspects, Onyebuchi Ikpozu and Kenneth Igwe, who were transporting the consignments to the nation’s Federal Capital Territory for distribution, had been detained and put into jail.
According to the statement, a Toyota Sienna bus bearing the registration number KTU 582 HV was transporting 99 cartons containing 594 cylinders weighing 1,267.200kgs, while a second bus bearing the registration number FKJ 329 YA was transporting 100 cartons containing 600 cylinders weighing 1,280kgs.
Similarly, the anti-narcotics agency said Mrs. Ugo Eluba, 48, was arrested in Abuja in a follow-up operation after 2,400 ampules of pentazocine injection and 100,000 Exol-5 tablets intercepted in Kogi state were tracked to her.
Meanwhile, the NDLEA said that on September 20, its agents intercepted 977 kg of skunk in a trailer labeled LSR 343 XW and carrying cartons of Maggi.
The skunk cargo was put onto the truck at Ipele junction in Ondo state, according to the statement, with 959kgs of the drug intended for distribution in Sokoto State and the remainder to be dropped off at Gwagwalada.
NDLEA also stated that two suspects, Auwal Mohammed and Abdullahi Abubakar, were apprehended in connection with the seizure, while two other suspects, Mutari Abdulazeez, 31, and Ayuba Madaki, 28, were apprehended on Saturday, September 23, in the Zuba area of the FCT with various quantities of methamphetamine, cannabis, and 13, 930 tramadol pills.
Similarly, Shuaibu Yusif, 27, and Abubakar Hussaini, 20, were apprehended with 89.1kgs of skunk on Saturday 23rd September along Kano-Hadejia route, Jigawa state, during a stop and search patrol by NDLEA agents.
Meanwhile, the NDLEA reported that 6,000 ampules of pentazocine injection were confiscated from a suspect, Usman Musa Sidi, 35, on Monday, September 18th, along the Abuja-Forest road in Kaduna, while en route to Bauchi state.
The agency also revealed that a follow-up operation in Bauchi resulted in the arrest of the actual owner of the consignment, Dominic Chukwuma, 35, on Tuesday 19th September, with at least 2.58kgs of Diazepam and 36.55kgs of pentazocine injection recovered from his home, as well as the arrest of two other suspects, Inuwa Nuhu and Isiyaku Dahiru Sani, on the same Tuesday in connection with the sei
In a related development, the NDLEA recovered 183kgs of Ghana Loud, a cannabis strain, from the body compartments of a J5 bus intercepted in Lagos on Wednesday 20th September, while operatives in Sokoto arrested one Charles Okeke, 44, with 473 bottles of codeine syrup at Unguwar Kosai area of Sokoto on Tuesday 19th September, and 365 blocks of compressed cannabis sativa weighing 258kgs were recovered from