The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested Ahmad Mohammed, a 42-year-old suspected supplier of illicit drugs to insurgents in the Banki area of Borno State.

Mohammed was arrested while taking thousands of concealed opioid pills to insurgents’ enclave in Banki, a border region between Nigeria and Cameroon.

He was apprehended by the NDLEA operatives at a checkpoint in the Bama area of Borno State on Friday, February 9, 2024.

The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, February 11, said when the suspect’s luggage was searched, 20,000 capsules of tramadol were recovered from him while on his way to deliver the opioid consignment in the border town.

Babafemi added that the anti-narcotic officers arrested a 27-year-old suspect, Abdulhameed Dauda, with 89kgs of cannabis sativa loaded into his truck in Owo, Ondo State, to be delivered at Gwagwalada in Abuja on Tuesday, February 6.

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He said the NDLEA operatives, on the same day, also intercepted another 30-year-old driver, Hassan Ade, transporting 696.5kgs of the same substance loaded in Idoani, Ondo State, to be delivered at Gwagwalada and Dei-Dei in Abuja.

The spokesman for the anti-drug agency said a follow-up operation led to the arrest of a 42-year-old woman, Joy Chukwuka, linked with the consignment.

Babafemi disclosed that apart from the seizure of 633.5kgs of cannabis at Eleyere, Ogbese in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State, the NDLEA operatives also recovered 59 jumbo bags of the same substance loaded in a truck marked GAD 287 XA heading to the Northern part of the country.

“Detergents were sprayed on the cannabis bags ostensibly to suppress the odour of the psychoactive weed, while 192 packs of table water were loaded on top to conceal the illicit consignment,” he added.

Babafemi, however, quoted the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), as commending the anti-narcotic officers for the arrests and seizures and urging them and their compatriots across the country to always strive to surpass past feats in their drug supply and demand reduction efforts.

The Star