In a sweeping nationwide crackdown, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have arrested suspects and dismantled massive drug networks across the country.
Among those caught in the dragnet according to the NDLEA spokesman, Mr Femi Babafemi in a statement, is a 75-year-old grandfather, Uchelue Ikechukwu, picked up in Anambra with over 26 kilograms of cannabis, alongside several accomplices nabbed with opioids and skunk in coordinated raids.
In Taraba State, a major bust unfolded in the vast Mayodoga forest where NDLEA, backed by the military and local security, destroyed a staggering 71-hectare cannabis farm, wiping out nearly 180,000 kilograms of skunk.
Its owner, 30-year-old Alfa Andrew, was arrested with a Dane gun.
According to Mr. Babafemi, at the Abuja–Kaduna tollgate, operatives intercepted a fuel tanker loaded with over 100,000 tramadol capsules, suspected to be heading to insurgents, while in Borno, a notorious supplier, Uchenna Umeh, was tracked and arrested with thousands of opioids and nearly ₦8 million in cash.
From Kano to Edo, Ondo to Lagos, seizures ran into hundreds of thousands of pills, blocks of cannabis, cough syrups, and even methamphetamine, as the NDLEA stormed highways, forests, and city hideouts.
The NDLEA spokesman, says the operations emphasizes the agency’s relentless war on drug cartels, adding that, this is a clear warning to traffickers across Nigeria that there will be no hiding place for them.
Reporting By Nosa Aituamen