Nosa Aituamen
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intensified its crackdown on drug trafficking networks across Nigeria, leading to several significant arrests and seizures in recent operations.
In Adamawa State, operatives apprehended a 41-year-old ex-convict and recent returnee from Malaysia, identified as Ndubuisi Udatu (alias Richard), at a checkpoint in Namtari along the Ngurore-Yola road.
The NDLEA spokesman Mr. Femi Babafemi in a statement says, Udatu was found to be concealing 2.700 kilograms of methamphetamine within two large music speakers, intended for distribution in Yola, Mubi, and across the border into Cameroon.
While a monetary exhibit of N22,300 was also recovered and during questioning, Udatu confessed to resuming his illicit drug trade after serving a jail term in Malaysia for previous drug trafficking offenses.
Further demonstrating the agency’s commitment to border security, a joint operation between NDLEA and Customs personnel at the Nigeria/Cameroon border in Mfum, Cross River State, he says, resulted in the arrest of 35-year-old trans-border trafficker, Odoh Peter Ikechukwu. Ikechukwu was caught with a substantial consignment of 8,740 ampoules of assorted opioids, weighing 395 kilograms.
The seized substances included 1,080 ampoules of fentanyl injection, 2,160 ampoules of morphine sulphate injection, 3,010 ampoules of phenobarbital sulphate injection, 2,160 ampoules of pethidine injection, and 330 ampoules of midazolam injection.
In other states, NDLEA operatives intercepted 27-year-old Aliyu Ibrahim at the Bachirawa area, recovering 20 ATM cards and 25,600 pills of tramadol (225mg and 250mg).
This success the spokesman states was followed by a follow-up operation in Gwagwalada, FCT Abuja, where 48-year-old Gambo Lawan was apprehended in connection with a prior seizure of 8,960 tramadol pills, along the Gwagwalada expressway.
Meanwhile, in Niger State, authorities recovered 124 kilograms of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis, concealed in 11 jumbo bags within the boot of a Lexus car along the Mokwa-Jebba road and the driver of the vehicle, 58-year-old Ademiluyi Adedapo Collins, was subsequently arrested.
Reacting to these successes, the Chairman of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers and their counterparts nationwide for their relentless efforts.
He urged them to maintain momentum in their offensive against drug cartels while simultaneously strengthening drug demand reduction initiatives.