NDLEA intercepts drugs going to bandits in Kebbi, arrests supplier

The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted 31.00kg of compressed cannabis in a commercial bus coming from Ibadan, Oyo State, to bandits in Kebbi State.

This was disclosed in a statement issued by the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, December 31, 2023.

Babafemi stated that a 45-year-old suspect, Yusuf Yahaya, was arrested with the cannabis on Christmas Eve along the Lagos-Ilorin expressway, noting that preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect supplies illicit drugs to bandits in Kebbi and Zamfara states.

He said the NDLEA officers on patrol along the Nguru-Gashua Road in Yobe State on Christmas Day, December 25, intercepted the trio of Musa Sani, Mohammed Ibrahim, and Adamu Usman in a truck conveying 39 blocks of Cannabis Sativa weighing 15.7kg and 128,500 pills of opioids.

He disclosed that follow-up operations on December 26 led to the arrest of the actual owner of the cannabis consignment, Ali Ibrahim, popularly called Ramos, in the Geidam area of Oyo State where an additional 208 blocks of the same substance were recovered from his house.

READ ALSO: Qatar-based businessman, other arrested for drug trafficking at Lagos airport

The NDLEA spokesman added that the owner of the seized opioids, Mustapha Goni (a.k.a Lolo), was equally arrested.

Babafemi noted that the NDLEA operatives while on patrol along the Owerri-Onitsha expressway in Imo State on Christmas Eve intercepted a commercial bus driven by a 42-year-old man, Peter Orji, with 400 bottles of codeine syrup and 7,590 pills of opioids, including tramadol 225mg heading to Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.

“While David Michael, 52, was arrested at Unguwa Ukku area of Kano on Sunday 24th December with 49 blocks of cannabis weighing 42.6kg, Umar Abdullahi, 27, was nabbed with 27, 350 pills of opioids at Gadar Tamburawa area of the city same day,” he added.

Commending the anti-narcotic officers for the arrests and seizures, the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), tasked them and their compatriots nationwide not to rest on the achievements of 2023 but to continue to raise the bar in their offensive action against drug barons.

The Star