By Akin Oyewole
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, says it has intercepted 1,194 cylinders of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) weighing 2,547.2 kilograms in two Toyota Sienna buses along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway on Friday, Sept. 22.
The seizure was part of over four tons of illicit and controlled drugs including skunk, codeine syrup, methamphetamine and tramadol during interdiction operations in Lagos, Kogi, FCT, Jigawa, Kaduna, Sokoto and Edo states.
Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA Spokesman, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
He said the two suspects, Onyebuchi Ikpozu and Kenneth Igwe, who were taking the consignments to the Federal Capital Territory for distribution had been arrested and taken into custody.
Babafemi said a Toyota Sienna bus marked KTU 582 HV was conveying 99 cartons containing 594 cylinders weighing 1,267.200kgs, while the second bus with registration number FKJ 329 YA was conveying 100 cartons of the substance with 600 cylinders weighing 1,280kgs.
He also said a 48-year-old woman, Mrs. Ugo Eluba, was also arrested in Abuja in a follow up operation after 2,400 ampules of pentazocine injection and 100,000 tablets of Exol-5 intercepted in Kogi state were traced to her.
NDLEA also claimed its operatives intercepted 977 kilograms of skunk on Sept. 20 in a trailer marked LSR 343 XW, bearing cartons of Maggi.
The skunk consignment was loaded into the truck at Ipele junction in Ondo State.
The statement added that 959kgs of the substance were meant for distribution in Sokoto State, while the rest was to be dropped off at Gwagwalada.
NDLEA said two suspects, Auwal Mohammed and Abdullahi Abubakar, had been arrested in connection with the seizure, while two other suspects, Mutari Abdulazeez, 31, and Ayuba Madaki, 28, were also arrested on Saturday, Sept. 23, in the Zuba area of the FCT with different quantities of methamphetamine, cannabis and 13, 930 pills of tramadol.
In the same vein, Shuaibu Yusif, 27, and Abubakar Hussaini, 20, were on Saturday, Sept. 23, nabbed with 89.1kgs of skunk along Kano-Hadejia road in Jigawa State during a stop and search patrol by NDLEA operatives.
The NDLEA also said no fewer than 6,000 ampules of pentazocine injection were recovered from a suspect, Usman Musa Sidi, 35, on Monday Sept.18, along Abuja – Forest road, Kaduna while on his way to Bauchi state.
It said that a follow up operation in Bauchi led to the arrest of the actual owner of the consignment, Dominic Chukwuma, 35, on Tuesday, Sept. 19, with at least 2.58kgs of Diazepam and 36.55kgs of pentazocine injection recovered from his home.
Two other suspects, Inuwa Nuhu and Isiyaku Dahiru Sani, were also arrested same Tuesday in connection with the seizure of 49 blocks of cannabis sativa concealed in a black sack weighing 26kgs in a commercial vehicle coming from Ogere, Ogun State to Kano.
In a related development, a total of 183kgs of Ghana Loud, a strain of cannabis, were recovered by the NDLEA from body compartments of a J5 bus intercepted in Lagos on Wednesday, Sept 20.
NDLEA operatives in Sokoto, on Tuesday Sept. 19, arrested one Charles Okeke, 44, with 473 bottles of codeine syrup at Unguwar Kosai area of Sokoto, while 365 blocks of compressed cannabis sativa weighing 258kgs were recovered from a Toyota Camry car marked KTU 886 EZ at Igarra, Akoko Edo LGA.
In addition, NDLEA said its operatives stormed thick forests in Ijesha Isu-Ekiti, Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti state, in a massive operation between Monday 11th and Wednesday 13th September, where they destroyed 40 tons (40,000 kilograms) of cannabis plants covering 16 hectares of farmland. (GBN)
