By Mike Oboh
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested three suspected trans-border drug traffickers for allegedly attempting to smuggle 48,000 tablets of 225mg tramadol through Mubi, Adamawa State, to Cameroon.
The agency’s operatives also intercepted over 1,500 kilogrammes of imported loud and other illicit substances during raids across Lagos and Edo states.
The spokesperson for the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, stated these in a statement in Abuja on Sunday.
The three suspects, Mohammed Hussaini, 32; Adamu Bella, 18, and Mohammed Umar, 18, were arrested at Tsamiya Junction, Madanya Road, Mubi, in the Mubi North Local Government Area of Adamawa State on Friday, January 28, with the exhibits concealed in the packets of another drug.
During interrogation, they reportedly claimed that the drugs were being taken to Bagira town along the Nigeria-Cameroon border, to be delivered to some Cameroonians for onward delivery to Maroa in Cameroon.
This comes on the heels of a similar operation at the Alaba Rago area of Lagos, where NDLEA operatives of the state command intercepted 1,200 parcels of imported loud, a strong variant of cannabis, suspected to have been smuggled into the state from a neighbouring country with a total weight of 1,229kg.
In another raid on Wednesday, January 26, at Suru Alaba, Ajeromi-Ifelodun LGA, Lagos, operatives arrested one Ibrahim Musa, 25, with 18,530 tablets of tramadol, rohynol, diazepam, exol-5, and 138 bottles of codeine.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, operatives at the SAHCO export shed of the airport, during a routine cargo search, intercepted a consignment of 22 passports of six different countries concealed in a bag of garri, among other food items.
Nine of the passports were of UK (three), France (three) and Portugal (three), while the rest were of Nigeria (eight), Ghana (four) and Cameroon (one).
Also at the airport, operatives recovered 12 parcels of cannabis weighing 4.95kg concealed in a carton of cereal packaged for export through the SAHCO export shed.
In Plateau State, a team of NDLEA officers on Friday, January 28, arrested two suspects; Emeka Ezenwa, 37, and Julius Akingbe, 45.
They were said to be in possession of 126.5grams of methamphetamine concealed inside a DVD player coming from Lagos.
Also, a raid in Kampani Zera-Wase LGA of the state on Friday led to the arrest of a 20-year-old woman, Fatima Sadiq, who was caught with 21.3kg cannabis.
