The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted a commercial bus conveying N3.2million counterfeit cash owned by three suspects: eight-month pregnant Favour Peter, 24; Esther Adukwu, 27, and Ochigbo Michael, 39, who were arrested at the Jabi Park, Abuja, in a follow up operation, last Tuesday, following the seizure of the fake naira notes in Lokoja, Kogi State.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, who made the disclosure in a statement, yesterday, said operatives of the agency, in collaboration with men of the Nigerian Navy Ship Lugard Base, Lokoja intercepted 37-year-old Aliyu Lawal, along Lokoja-Abuja road, last Monday, and recovered 620 blocks of cannabis weighing 310kg from him, while 10 sacks of the same psychoactive substance weighing 98kg were seized along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway from Jama Obodo, 44, in a commercial bus coming from Ilesha, Osun State, en route Taraba State, last Wednesday.
In Cross River State, a 40-year-old widow and mother of two, Mrs. Theodora Ita, was last Monday, arrested at Bassey Edom, Calabar, by NDLEA operatives for producing and selling a lethal new psychoactive substance (NPS), locally called ‘Combine’, which is a mixture of different strains of cannabis and opioids soaked in raw gin. As of the time of her arrest, 18 litres of the dangerous substance, in used paint drums, were recovered from her. In her statement, she claimed she started the illicit drug production and distribution in October 2023. Another suspect, Godwin Okon Samuel, 48, was apprehended at the Essit Ebum area of Calabar with 39.4kg of cannabis sativa, last Tuesday .
While two suspects: Sani Mohammed, 43, and Christopher Eze, 64, were arrested in the Sabon Gari area of Kano, last Tuesday, with 900,000 pills of opioid, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Owerri-Onitsha road, Imo State, last Friday, intercepted a logistics truck with registration number JGB 403XB and recovered 230 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 119kg, hidden under household items, after a thorough search.
At least, 252 kilograms of cannabis were seized during a raid at the Ijesa Isu forest, Ekiti State, last Saturday, while four suspects: Adamu Umar, 39; Abdullahi A Gimba, 27; Julius Uduakhomu, 28; and Michael Sunday, 24, were nabbed loading 40kg of same substance to the engine compartment of a gas truck, at Agho village, Owan East, Edo State. Two motorcycles used in conveying the consignment to where the gas truck heading to the North was parked, were also recovered.
In Ogun State, a suspect, Ismaila Ogun, was arrested last Friday, with 79kg cannabis at Imeko, while 18-year-old Friday Abah was nabbed with 410kg of the same substance when NDLEA operatives raided Obatedo camp, Itaogbolu forest, Akure North LGA, Ondo State.
With the same zeal, the various commands of the agency across the country continued with the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign in the past week. Some of them include: WADA sensitisation lecture for students and staff of Gboko Polytechnic, Gboko, Benue state; officers and men of 15 Engineering Field Regiment Nigerian Army, Topo, Badagry Lagos; meat butchers at Odo Eran abattoir, Osogbo, Osun State and WADA advocacy visit to Kogi State Governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo, among others.
While commending the officers and men of the Kogi, Cross River, Ondo, Ekiti, Ogun, Imo, Kano, and Edo commands of the agency for their outstanding feats in drug supply reduction, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd) equally applauded them and their counterparts in all the commands across the country, for intensifying their WADA advocacy lectures, aimed at drug demand reduction.
