By: Kingsley Omonobi
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said on Sunday that its operatives had intercepted a shipment of cocaine concealed in 20 sets of religious books going to Saudi Arabia.
A spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, said, “The cocaine consignment consisting of 20 parcels with a total weight of 500grams and buried in the pages of the religious books was uncovered at a courier company in Lagos on Tuesday, April 15th 2025 when NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) were searching through export cargos going to Saudi Arabia at the logistics firm.
“In Kano, a 22-year-old supplier of illicit substances to bandits, Muhammad Mohammed, has been arrested by NDLEA operatives on patrol along Bichi — Kano road while heading to Katsina with 277 ampoules of pentazocine injection tied to his thigh and private part with Cello tape.
“He was intercepted on Sunday, April 13th, while another suspect, Mohammed Abdulrahman Abdulaziz, 43, was nabbed the same day at Research Rimin Kebe area of Nasarawa, Kano, with 68 blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 30kg.
“At another courier company in Lagos, on April 15th 2025, NDLEA officers intercepted five parcels of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis weighing 2.8 kilograms, hidden in a carton coming from the United States of America.
In Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, not less than 557.2kg of skunk, 5.6kg of methamphetamine and 29.8grams of heroin were recovered from a house along Major General Isaiah Alison Street, Opolo, where four suspects were arrested when NDLEA operatives raided the premises on Wednesday, April 16th.
The four suspects arrested during the raid include Sarimiye Suwa Kurtis, 46; Roland Prosper, 34; Sarimiye Tare Paul, 45; and Fidelis Ugbesla, 46.
Also in Lagos, a total of 1,100 kilograms of skunk were seized from a delivery van with the driver, Ismail Abdullahi, arrested in the Surulere area on Thursday, April 17th, by NDLEA.
Operatives in Kaduna on Friday, April 18th, raided the hideout of a suspect, Ike Ani, 30, in Zaria, where no fewer than 31,950 pills of tramadol 225mg and diazepam were recovered.
In Kebbi, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Bagudo road on Friday, April 18th, intercepted a vehicle loaded with bags of charcoal coming from Malabil, Benin Republic.
A search of the vehicle recovered a 97 kg skunk concealed in the sacks of charcoal.
Three suspects, Abubakar Ibrahim, 50; Mustapha Aliyu, 32; and Bashar Lawali, 28, were arrested in connection with the seizure.
A 48-year-old Okafor Marcel was nabbed with 11.5kg skunk at Abatete, Anambra state, while NDLEA operatives in Osogbo, Osun state, on Tuesday, April 15th, arrested Ajala Mercy, 27, with 43 litres of skushi, a mixture of black currant, cannabis and opioids recovered from her room at Dada estate, Halleluyah area of the state capital.
Two cannabis farms in Egbeta forest, Ovia North East LGA, Edo state, were raided by NDLEA operatives who destroyed 3,717.8625kg of the psychoactive plant on 1.487145 hectares and recovered 136.5kg of processed cannabis.
At the Tincan seaport in Lagos, a suspect, Basorun Usman Kayode, 40, who has been at large for two years, was arrested by NDLEA officers in connection with the seizure of 107kg Loud imported from Canada in 2023,
Another suspect, Dauda Yakubu, who distributes illicit drugs within the seaport community, was arrested by a team of operatives on Monday 14th, April.
The War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, and social advocacy activities by NDLEA Commands equally continued across the country in the past week.
Some of them include: the WADA sensitization lecture delivered to students and staff of St. Michael Anglican Primary School, Epe, Lagos; Community Grammar School, Ipoti Ekiti, Ekiti state; College of Education, Minna, Niger state; traders at Igbona market, Osogbo, Osun state.
Others were traders at Marian Market, Calabar, and Cross River, drivers and traders at Peace Mass Transit Park, Upper Iweka, Onitsha, and Anambra State, among others.
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) commended the officers and men of DOGI, Kano, Lagos, Kaduna, Kebbi, Osun, Zone 13, Edo and Tincan Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week,
He equally praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for ensuring a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
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