The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has busted a trans-border drug trafficking syndicate, arresting four members in intelligence-led operations during which multi-million-naira worth of tramadol pills concealed in the bumper and false bottom of Sienna buses heading to border towns were recovered.
Following weeks of intelligence and surveillance operations by operatives of the Directorate of Intelligence in NDLEA, a statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, said a Sienna bus marked ABJ 452 HG was intercepted at Nasarawa-Toto Road, Keffi, Nasarawa State on 27th January 2025 at 6 am.
Two suspects, Zahradeen Adamu and Abubakar Usman, were arrested in the vehicle coming from Onitsha, Anambra State en route to Yola, Adamawa State. A second Sienna bus driven by Abba Usman, 48, was also intercepted.
During a search of the two vehicles, specially constructed steel compartments were discovered after the removal of the back bumper, where a total of 190,960 pills of tramadol were concealed, and in the space designed to house the spare tyre of the vehicles.
Investigations revealed that an Onitsha, Anambra State-based dealer, Kingsley Mbaeri, was the supplier of the seized tramadol consignment and a swift follow-up operation led to the arrest of Mbaeri at his Uga Street, Onitsha home on 29th January. Two vehicles, a Toyota Corolla car marked FGG 948 MF and a Toyota Sienna bus marked GWA 23 HH, were recovered from his house.
In another interdiction, Babafemi said, operatives of the Intelligence Department intercepted a commercial bus coming from Onitsha, Anambra State at Abaji checkpoint, FCT Abuja on 4th February. A passenger in the bus, Chimezie Henry Ojingwa, carrying motor spare parts in a black bag, was arrested.
When his bag was searched, 404.47 grams of methamphetamine, 506.49 grams of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, and 262.32 grams of dimethyl sulfone, a precursor substance for mixing meth, all of which were concealed in the motor parts, were recovered.
In Cross River State, NDLEA officers on patrol along Ogoja-Abakaliki Road, Yahe, on 13th February intercepted 170,000 pills of tramadol in a truck driven by Paul Chukwudi, while operatives at the Apapa seaport in Lagos on 11th February recovered 85,400 bottles of codeine-based syrup in a container imported from India.
Two suspects, Halilu Isa and Gambo Umaru, were nabbed at Bama Road, Maiduguri, Borno State, on 14th February with 60 compressed blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis, weighing 72kg, while NDLEA operatives in Ekiti State on 11th February raided a notorious drug joint at Iloda Street, Ikole-Ekiti, where they arrested three suspects: Bala Muhammed, Yahaya Adamu, and Abdullahi Shehu. A total of 83 kilograms of skunk were recovered from them.
In Lagos, 28-year-old Samiat Olabisi Yussuf was on Saturday arrested by operatives during a raid of her Lekki home, where 169.5 litres of nitrous oxide, popularly known as laughing gas, and 111 grams of Loud were recovered.
Not less than 132.84 kilograms of skunk were recovered from two suspects: Ibrahim Usman and Solomon James in Taraba. While Usman was nabbed with 88kg of Arizona and Ghana Loud at Wukari, James was arrested with 44.84kg of the same substance at Takanaba, Sabongari, in Jalingo LGA.
While commending the officers and men of the Directorate of Intelligence, Apapa, Cross River, Borno, Ekiti, Taraba, and Lagos Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), also applauded their compatriots in all the commands across the country for intensifying the WADA sensitisation lectures and advocacy messages to every part of their areas of responsibility.
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