Another international drug trafficking ring has been busted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) with a 41-year-old ex-convict and Malaysian returnee, Ndubuisi Udatu, also known as Richard, already in their custody.
Udatu was nabbed with 2.7 kilograms of methamphetamine hidden in two giant music speakers.
The illicit drugs were intended for distribution in Yola and Mubi, Adamawa state, and further smuggling into Cameroon.
NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Mr. Femi Babafemi, said in a statement sent to Persecondnews on Sunday that the suspect was arrested while on a commercial bus at an NDLEA checkpoint at Namtari along the Ngurore-Yola road in Adamawa on Monday, April 7, 2024.
“He was found with two new music speakers used to conceal four packages of methamphetamine and a monetary exhibit of N22,300,” the statement reads.
In his statement, Udatu claimed he returned to Nigeria to continue his illicit drug trade after serving out his jail term in Malaysia where he had been arrested, convicted and sent to prison for drug trafficking offences.
During another interdiction effort, NDLEA officers in a joint border operation with Customs personnel at the Nigeria/Cameroon border, Mfum, Cross River state arrested a trans-border drug trafficker, 35-year-old Odoh Peter Ikechukwu, with 8,740 ampoules of assorted opioids, weighing 395kg.
The seized substances included 1,080 ampoules of fentanyl injection, 2,160 ampoules of morphine sulphate injection, 3,010 ampoules of phenobarbital injection, 2,160 ampoules of pethidine injection, and 330 ampoules of midazolam injection.
Also, on April 11, NDLEA operatives in Kano arrested 27-year-old Aliyu Ibrahim, who was found with 20 ATM cards and 25,600 pills of tramadol (225mg and 250mg), in the Bachirawa area of Kano.
A follow-up operation at Wazobia Motor Park in Gwagwalada, FCT Abuja, led to the arrest of 48-year-old Gambo Lawan, subsequent to the seizure of 8,960 Tramadol pills by NDLEA officers during a routine checkpoint along Gwagwalada Expressway on April 7.
On April 11, authorities recovered 124 kilograms of skunk, a cannabis strain, packaged in 11 jumbo bags, from the boot of a Lexus car driven by 58-year-old Ademiluyi Adedapo Collins along Mokwa-Jebba road in Niger state.
Alongside its efforts to curb drug supply, the NDLEA’s commands nationwide sustained their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiatives, conducting advocacy campaigns in schools, markets, places of worship, and local communities over the past week.
Some notable events included WADA enlightenment lectures for students and staff of New Era Secondary School, Nteje, Anambra; Promise Land College, Ikotun Egbe, Lagos; Cherryfield College, Jikwoyi, FCT; Federal Polytechnic, Ayede, Ogbomoso, Oyo state; Nurul Faruq Islamic Academy, Gombi, Adamawa state, while the Kwara state command paid a WADA advocacy visit to Oloro of Oro kingdom, Oba Joel Olaniyi Oyatoye Titiloye Olufayo II, among others.
NDLEA Chairman/CEO, Retired Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa commended officers in Adamawa, Cross River, FCT, Kano, and Niger State Commands for their outstanding work, urging them to maintain momentum in combating drug cartels while emphasizing the importance of balancing supply reduction efforts with demand reduction initiatives nationwide.
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