The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, says its operatives have thwarted crooked attempts by drug syndicates at some courier firms in Lagos to export illicit substances including various quantities of methamphetamine and opioids concealed in hems of new jeans trousers, dolls, buttons, local soap and tins of milo beverage to Europe, United Arab Emirate and Asia.

NDLEA said some of the consignments intercepted by its Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, at courier houses in Lagos include: tramadol 225mg concealed in hems of new jeans trousers heading to Cyprus; shipment of cannabis sativa hidden in heads of dolls going to Dubai, UAE; sachets of tramadol 225mg buried in tins of milo beverage going to UAE and another set of same drug hidden in local soap also going to UAE, as well as a consignment of methamphetamine concealed in buttons heading to Hong Kong.

According to the anti-narcotic agency, a shipment of another illicit substance coming from Florida, USA was equally intercepted at a courier firm while the recipient, Daniel Ogi was tracked by its officers and arrested at 5 Akeem Shittu street, Ajao Estate Lagos on Friday 24th November 2023.

This was disclosed in a statement issued on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy.

Announcing the interceptions and seizures made the NDLEA, Babafemi disclosed that NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Friday 1st December 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.

Babafemi also announced that the agency, similarly in another operation in Lagos, operatives recovered 393kgs of cannabis in a shop at Akala, Mushin, on Friday, December 1st, while a suspect, Justin Enuonye, who deals in Canadian Loud was arrested by the police at Victoria Island and transferred to Lagos Command of NDLEA on Friday, December 1st, with 154 parcels weighing 92kgs.

He added that a team of NDLEA operatives also intercepted a vehicle at Oyingbo area of Lagos and recovered 108kgs of cannabis from it, while 675 kilograms of the same substance were recovered from the store of a wanted dealer, Wahab Olota at Adedoja area of Mushin, Lagos.

Making further disclosures, he said, “In Edo, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday 29th November stormed the Ujiogba forest, Esan West LGA where 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.

“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 on Monday 27th Nov. While 123 blocks of cannabis weighing 73kgs were recovered from a suspect, Abdullahi Muhammad Bello along Gombe-Bauchi road, Gombe state on Wednesday 29th Nov, 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 on Friday 1st December when they intercepted a vehicle transporting the opioid along Abuja- Kaduna road, with the driver, Shamsu Isiyaku and his conductor, Muhammad Maina arrested. Same day, operatives also arrested Ernest Esechie, 30, with 44.4 kilograms of compressed cannabis sativa along Gwantu- Sanga road, Kaduna.

“In Kogi, NDLEA officers arrested Ahmad Umar, 18, with 46.4kgs cannabis at a check point in Kabba, while 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 on Wednesday, 29th Nov, while 125.9kgs of same substance were also seized from a store in the same area.”

Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) commended the officers and men of the Lagos, Edo, Anambra, Gombe, FCT, Kaduna, Kogi, Bauchi and Delta Commands of the Agency as well as DOGI for their outstanding feats in the past week.

Marwa 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.