The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested three suspected transborder drug traffickers with 48,000 tablets of Tramadol.
NDLEA in a statement issued by its spokesman, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, said the suspects were nabbed while trying to smuggle the drug through Mubi, Adamawa state to the Cameroon Republic.
While identifying the suspects as Mohammed Hussaini, Adamu Bella, and Mohammed Umar, the anti-drugs agency said they were apprehended on January 28 at Tsamiya Junction, Madanya Road, Mubi, Mubi North Local Government Area of Adamawa State with the exhibits concealed in the packets of another drug.
“When interviewed, they claimed the drugs were being taken to Bagira town along Nigeria-Cameroon border to be delivered to some Cameroonians for onward delivery to Maroa in Cameroon,” the statement read.
The arrest followed a similar operation at the Alaba Rago area of Lagos where NDLEA operatives 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 1,229 kilograms.
In another raid on Wednesday at Suru Alaba, Ajeromi-Ifelodun LGA, Lagos, the agency said its operatives arrested one Ibrahim Musa with 18,530 tablets of Tramadol, Rohynol, Diazepam, Exol-5, and 138 bottles of Codeine.
“At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos, operatives at the SAHCO export shed of the airport during their routine cargo search intercepted a consignment of 22 international passports of six different countries concealed in a bag of Gari among other food items.
“Nine of the passports were three each of UK, France, and Portugal, while the rest were: Nigeria -8; Ghana -4 and Cameroon -1. Also at the airport, operatives equally recovered 12 parcels of cannabis weighing 4.95kg concealed in a carton of Golden Morn packaged for export through the SAHCO export shed,” the NDLEA spokesman further noted.
In Plateau State, two suspects were arrested on Friday for being in possession of 126.5 grams of methamphetamine.
The suspects – Emeka Ezenwa and Julius Akingbe – were said to have concealed the item inside a DVD player coming from Lagos.
This is even as a raid in Kampani Zera- Wase Local Government Area of the state on Friday led to the arrest of Fatima Sadiq who was caught with 21.3kg cannabis.
In a similar raid of a notorious drug joint, Bakin Kogi Ringim in Jigawa State on Friday, the NDLEA said its operatives recovered different quantities of cannabis, Diazepam, Exol-5, and some new psychoactive substances with a total weight of 8.680kg as well as weapons such as knives, cutlasses, Gora sticks, catapults, and charms.
While in Edo State, 19 bags of cannabis weighing 144.10kg stored in the bush along Uromi Road, Esan North East LGA were intercepted. The items were ready to be transported to other parts of the country, with eight bags of the same substance weighing 111kg were recovered from a bush at Iruekpen, Esan West LGA.
In his reaction to the arrests, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), commended officers and men of Lagos, MMIA, Adamawa, Plateau, and Edo commands of the agency for their tenacity and vigilance.
He charged them, along with their colleagues across the country, not to relent until the last gram of illicit drug is recovered from every part of Nigeria.
