This was as the anti-narcotics agency nabbed a drug kingpin in a Lagos hotel; recovered tons of cannabis, 8,000 bottles of codeine during raids in Edo, Delta, Bauchi, Kaduna, Gombe, Kogi states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
These were revealed in a press release by the NDLEA Head of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babalola, detailing the activities of the agency in the last one week.
The crooked attempts by drug syndicates to export the illicit substances to Europe, United Arab Emirate and Asia were thwarted by NDLEA operatives at some courier firms in Lagos.
Some of the consignments were intercepted by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) at courier houses in Lagos.
They included tramadol 225mg concealed in hems of new jeans trousers heading to Cyprus and cannabis sativa hidden in heads of dolls going to Dubai, UAE.
Also uncovered were sachets of tramadol 225mg buried in tins of milo beverage going to UAE; another set of same drug hidden in local soap also going to UAE and a consignment of methamphetamine concealed in buttons heading to Hong Kong.
A shipment of another illicit substance coming from Florida, USA was equally intercepted at a courier firm while the recipient, Daniel Ogi, was arrested at 5, Akeem Shittu Street, Ajao Estate, Lagos on Friday, 24 November, 2023.
Operatives in Lagos, last Friday, also arrested a drug kingpin, Okechukwu Ogala (56), who specialises in exploiting and recruiting young citizens to export meth to Asian countries.
He was arrested at Blue Moon Hotel in Okota area of Lagos with 60 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.009 kilograms.
In another operation, in Lagos, operatives, last Friday, recovered 393kgs of cannabis in a shop at Akala, Mushin.
A suspect, Justin Enuonye who deals in Canadian Loud, was arrested by the police at Victoria Island and transferred to Lagos Command of NDLEA last Friday.
The suspect was allegedly caught with 154 parcels of Canadian Loud, weighing 92kgs.
A team of NDLEA operatives also intercepted a vehicle at Oyingbo area of Lagos and recovered 108kgs of cannabis from it.
675 kilograms of the same substance were recovered from the store of a wanted dealer, Wahab Olota, at Adedoja area of Mushin, Lagos.
In Edo, NDLEA operatives, last Wednesday, stormed the Ujiogba Forest, Esan West Local Government Area.
They recovered 5,988 kilograms of cannabis already processed and ready for distribution, while a 22-year-old, Mson Bunde (a.k.a Tete Peter Joseph), found in a hut on the cannabis farm was arrested.
Meanwhile, no less than 120,000 capsules of tramadol concealed in new sound systems packed in a Jos, Plateau state-bound bus were seized by NDLEA officers acting on intelligence along Onitsha-Awka Road, Anambra State, last Monday.
123 blocks of cannabis weighing 73kgs were recovered from a suspect, Abdullahi Muhammad Bello along Gombe-Bauchi Road, Gombe State, last Wednesday.
In the same vein, NDLEA operatives in Abuja seized 168 blocks of same psychoactive substance with a total weight of 101kgs from the store of a fleeing drug dealer in Kabusa area of the FCT.
No fewer than 8,000 bottles of codeine syrup were recovered by NDLEA operatives last Friday when they intercepted a vehicle transporting the opioid along Abuja- Kaduna Road.
The driver, Shamsu Isiyaku and his conductor, Muhammad Maina, also arrested.
Same day, operatives also arrested Ernest Esechie (30), with 44.4 kilograms of compressed cannabis sativa along Gwantu- Sanga Road, Kaduna.
NDLEA officers arrested Ahmad Umar (18) with 46.4kgs cannabis at a check point in Kabba, Kogi State.
Jamilu Zakari (32) was nabbed at Kofar Idi, Kandahar, Bauchi town, Bauchi State with 125 blocks of same substance that weighed 146kgs.
At least, 542.3kgs of cannabis were recovered from a suspect, Festus Egeogoli (32), when his base at Jakpa Road, Warri, Delta State was raided by NDLEA operatives last Wednesday.
125.9kgs of same substance were also seized from a store in the same area, same day
With the same vigour, 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 included WADA sensitisation lecture for students of Phrankstars School, Awka, Anambra; students of Taskar Alkairi Primary and Secondary Schools, Goburawa, Dala Local Government Area;
Natsugune Primary and Secondary Schools, Ungogo Local Government Area, Kano; students of Kevqueen College, Itanla, Ondo West Local Government Area, Ondo;
Students of Unibek Group of Schools, Port Harcourt, Rivers; students of The Apostolic High School, Ilesa, Osun State and students of Usman Jidda Shuwa Memorial Secondary School, Gamboru, Borno State.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), has commendes the officers and men of the Lagos, Edo, Anambra, Gombe, FCT, Kaduna, Kogi, Bauchi and Delta commands of the agency and DOGI for their outstanding feats in the past week.
He equally applauded their counterparts in all the commands across the country for intensifying their WADA advocacy lectures, thus creating parity between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction activities.
