By Bisola Adeyemo
The Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) has commended officers for their unrelenting commitment to curb illicit drugs in the country.
The commendation came after the agency intercepted about 2,504.8 kilograms of diverse illicit drugs from multiple suspects in five different states.
The NDLEA spokesperson, Mr Femi Babafemi, revealed this in a statement made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi noted that 2,504.8 kilograms of illicit drugs were seized during operations in Edo, Ondo, Kaduna, Kano and Kogi states, respectively in the past week.
According to him, in Kogi, 60-year-old Mrs Comfort Uzor was arrested with 62.1kg cannabis on Tuesday, Aug. 17 in Lokoja, where one Dayyabu Usman was also caught with 8kg of the same substance.
“In Kaduna State, operatives of the Birnin Gwari Area Command of the agency raided the home of one Mr Joseph Sunday at Ungwa Pama, Kaduna, where they recovered 48.3kg of cannabis from his room following credible intelligence,” he said.
In Edo state, NDLEA’s officers on Tuesday, Aug. 17 stormed the Ugbuwe forest in Ovia North East LGA, where they seized 146 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 2,044 kilograms.
“While in Kano state, one Ikechukwu Aleke was arrested with 30,000 tablets of Tramadol 225mg and 99 bottles of Codeine syrup.
“In addition to the arrest was one Muktar Muhammad, with 370 bottles of codeine cough syrup, weighing 60.4kg, as well as 900 tablets of Rohypnol.
“Also arrested in Kano was Sufiyanu Abubakar, 24, with 400 plastic bottles of Codeine cough syrup weighing 52kg.
“As well as one Mutta Wada, who specialises in using courier firms to send drugs to a recipient in China, using cooking spices bottles for concealment,” he said.
Babafemi noted that over 77.5 kilograms of cannabis and monkey tail were intercepted on Saturday Aug. 21 at Odigbo town in Odigbo LGA, in Ondo state where operatives arrested one Basiru Ijiniga.
He said one Ibrahim Umaru in Sabo area of Akure South LGA was also arrested on Saturday and items recovered from him included different quantities of psychotropic substances like Diazepam, Tramadol, Swinol and Rophynol.