Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have seized a total of 8,268.2311kilograms of assorted illicit drugs including cocaine, heroin, tramadol, methamphetamine and skunk among others in a weeklong coordinated raids across seven states, namely; Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Enugu, Bauchi Edo and Anambra.
The agency, in a statement released on Sunday said during the ‘offensive action’ operations, which began on Sunday, August 1st and ended on Saturday, August 7th, 2021 in the seven states, at least 15 drug dealers, including a lady in a wheelchair, were detained.
The operations were carried out in response to intelligence and as part of the ongoing offensive action directed by the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), against all drug cartels across the country.
The majority of the drugs collected were found in the states of Ondo and Edo.
In Akure, the Ondo state capital, a 27-year-old Omokayode Adedayo was on Friday 6th August arrested along Oda road, Akure South Local Government Area with a cocktail of illicit substances including cannabis sativa, cocaine, methamphetamine, tramadol, swinol, and designer drug.
The Nigerian Army had intercepted 1,025kg of cannabis in a Toyota Sequoia with the registration number FST 169 BW and a Toyota Sienna with the registration number APP 918 FA the day before, at a checkpoint in Isua Akoko, where two fake police officers, Stephen Sunday and Eze Ezenwa, were also arrested with 575kg of cannabis being transported in a Sienna bus with a fake police registration number.
The suspects and exhibits were promptly handed over to the Ondo state command of the agency along with a cash exhibit of N148,300.
This was preceded by a raid carried out by operatives of the Ondo state command at Egbeta community, a border town between Ondo and Edo states, where a total of 6,332kilograms of cannabis sativa were recovered and two suspects; Emeka Ossai and Raphael Henry arrested.
In Akwa Ibom state, raids in parts of the state led to the recovery of 64.903kg of illicit drugs including 1. 2031kg crack cocaine from a 26-year-old Nwoye Ogbonna Solomon, the biggest cocaine seizure in the history of the state.
In Adamawa state, a drug dealer, Ikechukwu Onuh was arrested at Jimeta, Yola on Thursday 5th August with 14.400kg of tramadol packaged as diclofenac to evade detection.
In Enugu, a total of 19.08kg of cocaine and skunk was recovered from three suspects including a 35-year-old cripple, Iyiogwe Chinenye and 25-year-old Aja Chidi David. Different quantities of cocaine and heroin were also seized from an 18-year-old drug dealer, Jude Chinedu during raids at Inland town area of Onitsha, Anambra state.
While 59.3kg of a psychotropic substance, pentazocine, was intercepted in a bus from Jos, Plateau state, to Bauchi, with the courier arrested, over 148.808kg of different variants of skunk, some of which were meant for students of Igbinendon University, Okada, and Edo State Polytechnic, Usen, were recovered from two dealers; Sunday Ojodale Oguche, 21, and Endurance Ehi.
Meanwhile, narcotic officers from the agency’s Directorate of Operation and General Investigation, DOGI, intercepted various quantities of tramadol, methamphetamine, and skunk en route to the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the UAE in two courier firms in Lagos.
In response to the raids’ results, Gen. Marwa commended the officers and men of the seven commands and the DOGI for their diligence and warned them not to rest on their laurels. He stated that the nationwide offensive action would be carried out across all commands until the last gram of illicit drug was recovered from the street.
