The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a commercial bus conveying N3.2 million counterfeit cash owned by a 24-year-old pregnant woman, Favour Peter, and two others at Jabi Park in Abuja.

The two suspects, 27-year-old Esther Adukwu and 39-year-old Ochigbo Michael, were arrested alongside the pregnant woman in a follow-up operation by the NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.

The NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday, April 14, said the arrest of the suspects followed the seizure of the fake naira notes in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.

He said the NDLEA officers in collaboration with operatives of the Nigerian Navy Ship Lugard base in Lokoja intercepted 37-year-old Aliyu Lawal along Lokoja-Abuja Road on Monday, April 8, and recovered 620 blocks of cannabis weighing 310kg from him.

Babafemi noted that 10 sacks of the same psychoactive substance weighing 98kg were also seized along the Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway by NDLEA operatives from a 44-year-old suspect, Jama Obodo, in a commercial bus coming from Ilesha, Osun State, en route Taraba State on Wednesday, April 10.

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Babafemi disclosed that 252 kilograms of cannabis were seized during a raid at Ijesa Isu forest in Ekiti State on Saturday, April 13, adding that four suspects – Adamu Umar, 39; Abdullahi Gimba, 27; Julius Uduakhomu, 28; and Micheal Sunday, 24 – were nabbed while loading 40kg of same substance to the engine compartment of a gas truck at Agho village, Owan East in Edo State.

The NDLEA spokesman said two motorcycles used in conveying the consignment to where the gas truck heading to the North was parked were also recovered.

He said a suspect, Ismaila Ogun, was arrested with 79kg cannabis at Imeko in Ogun State on Friday, April 12, adding that 18-year-old Friday Abah was nabbed with 410kg of the same substance when NDLEA operatives raided Obatedo camp, Itaogbolu forest in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State.

While commending the anti-narcotic officers for their outstanding feats in drug supply reduction, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), equally applauded them and their counterparts in all the commands across the country for intensifying their WADA advocacy lectures, aimed at drug demand reduction.

The Star