NDLEA seizes 1,029.5kg cannabis concealed in gas tank

The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted over 91 jumbo bags of cannabis, weighing 1,029.5kg and concealed in a truck-mounted natural gas tank at Doma Road in Lafia, Nasarawa State.

This was disclosed via a statement issued and made available to The Star on Sunday by the NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday.

Babafemi stated that a 52-year-old suspect, Ernest Ojieh, was arrested in connection with the seizure last Saturday.

The anti-drug agency spokesman said the arrest came barely four days after NDLEA operatives at Agwan Doka in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, seized 38 big bags of the same substance with a total weight of 367kg.

He noted that two suspects, Abdullahi Iliyasu, aged 30, and 29-year-old Bashir Mohammed, were arrested over the seizure.

Babafemi added that over half a million pills of pharmaceutical opioids were seized and suspects arrested in raid operations across Kaduna and Adamawa states.

The NDLEA spokesperson stated: “In Kaduna alone, 294,400 pills of Tramadol and Diazepam were seized from Shaban Nasir, Aminu Usman and Shamsudeen Hussaini, along Abuja-Kaduna express road as well as Sa’idu Yahaya and Umar Abubakar, during a follow up operation in Kano, all on Friday 15th July.

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“In the same vein, over 227,000 different grades of Tramadol tablets were seized during the raid of a patent medicine store at Sabon Layi, close to Mubi main market, Mubi North LGA, Adamawa State on Sunday 3rd July.

“Recovered from the store where a suspect, Nasiru Abubakar, 27, was arrested include Tramadol 250mg (aka Boko Haram); Royal Tramadol 225mg (aka Vectra); Tramaking Tramadol 225mg (aka Jan Dara); Tramadol 200mg (aka Dogari); and Tramadol 100mg (aka Green), among others.

“Another suspect, Idris Adamu, 25, was also arrested in a shoe shop in the same Sabon Layi where over 5,000 tablets of Tramadol 225mg were recovered from him,” Babafemi disclosed.

While commending the NDLEA officers for the arrests and seizures, the anti-narcotic agency Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), warned the drug cartels that “no matter the ingenuity of their modes of concealment, the dedicated workforce of the Agency will always expose them and their tricks.”

The Star