Persecondnews reports that the catastrophic impact on Nigeria’s youth and adult population was averted solely by the agency’s proactive, intelligence-led crackdown.
The intelligence-led operation marked another breakthrough in the agency’s ongoing efforts to dismantle a syndicate smuggling tramadol from Togo through the Benin Republic into Nigeria using specially modified long trailers.
The latest breakthrough came barely a week after NDLEA operatives recovered 558,900 tramadol 250mg pills concealed in the false-bottom compartment of a truck that entered Lagos through the Togo-Benin Republic route.
The operation gathered pace on July 2 when operatives tracked another trailer linked to the syndicate as it headed for Kano.
According to the agency, the truck was intercepted along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, where officers recovered 853,000 tramadol 250mg pills concealed in a fabricated compartment beneath the cargo floor and arrested its 22-year-old driver, Jabir Kabiru.
Subsequently, operatives struck again after intelligence led them to a second trailer travelling toward Kano on the same expressway.
A total of 777,000 tramadol 250mg pills concealed in a fabricated compartment beneath the cargo floor were recovered, while the 22-year-old driver, Muhammed Nuhu, was taken into custody.
Investigations later revealed that the three trailers intercepted on June 21, July 2 and July 4, together with their consignments, belonged to the same transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria corridor.
In a separate move at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted two consignments of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing a combined 4.70 kilogrammes at the airport’s import shed.
The consignments, concealed inside cartons boldly marked “Odugwu”, arrived from Canada aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights on June 24 and July 3, leading to the arrest of cargo agents Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga.
Further investigations led to the arrest of Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus when he appeared at a logistics company to take delivery of the consignments.
The agency subsequently arrested the alleged owner of the shipments, Chioma Nneka Mokeme, 44, on July 7 in Surulere, Lagos, in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Area C Command.
During interrogation, Chioma said she runs a printing business, and that a Canada-based associate, Agbons Collins, introduced her to the illicit drug trade.
Elsewhere in Rivers State, NDLEA operatives arrested 80-year-old grandpa, Chika Ugwoji at Ahoada on July 14 after recovering 800 grammes of skunk from his possession.
Meanwhile in Edo state, operatives arrested Christian Chukwuka, 32, and his wife, Nwanneka Christian, 33, during a raid on their suspected drug warehouse along Sapele Road in Benin City on July 13.
The raid led to the seizure of 22 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5 kilogrammes and compressed blocks of Canadian Loud with a gross weight of 192.67 kilogrammes.
In another development, investigation by operatives of the agency, has led to the arrest of Hajara Abdullahi, 38, a Chadian national, and her alleged Nigerian accomplice, Abdulkarim Jidda, 44, in Apapa, Lagos, after 50,000 tramadol 225mg pills intercepted in Kogi State on July 12 were traced to them.
Alongside its enforcement operations, the NDLEA commands maintained the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign with sensitisation lectures for students and staff of junior and secondary schools across the country.
On his part, retired Brig.-Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa Commended officers and men of the MMIA, Lagos, Rivers, Edo and Kogi Commands for the arrests and seizures.
He emphasized that their efforts, alongside those of their counterparts across the country, had strengthened ongoing drug control efforts and urged them to remain vigilant at all times.
Author
Leave a comment