Nabs pregnant lady, 24 others in Anambra, FCT, Kano, Ondo, Edo, Lagos raids
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested 24 suspected drug traffickers and dealers, including a 42-year-old man conveying thousands of concealed opioid pills to insurgents in the Banki area of Borno State.

The other suspects are a six-month pregnant lady, a mother of three children, and three other women.

They were arrested in major interdictions, leading to the seizure of over 7,609kgs of assorted illicit drugs in eight states.

Confirming the development yesterday, NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said the bulk of the seizures was made in Nasarawa State where operatives, acting on credible intelligence, on Sunday, February 4, intercepted a truck, marked Lagos JJJ 64 YC, conveying 367 jumbo bags of cannabis sativa weighing 4,037kgs from Akure, Ondo State, for delivery at the Shabu area of Lafia, the state capital.

According to him, three suspects: Shuaibu Yahaya Liman, 35; Monday Audu, 33, and Linus Samuel, 42, were arrested in connection with the seizure.

On Monday, February 5, operatives in Abuja, FCT, also arrested the duo of Jibrin Shuaibu, 23, and Prosper Innih, 17, with 169 bags and 80 blocks of compressed cannabis sativa weighing 1,961.5kgs concealed in a truck with registration number Ogun WDE 557 XC.

The truck was intercepted during a stop-and-search operation along the Abaji-Abuja road on its way from Uzeba to Dei-Dei, FCT.

In another operation in Abuja, on Tuesday, February 6, a suspect, Abdulhameed Dauda, 27, was arrested with 89kgs of the same psychoactive substance loaded into his truck in Owo, Ondo State, for delivery at Gwagwalada in the FCT.

Same day, operatives also intercepted another driver, Hassan Ade, 30, transporting 696.5kgs of the same substance loaded in Idoani, Ondo State, to be delivered at Gwagwalada and Dei-Dei in the FCT. A follow up operation led to the arrest of a mother of three children, Joy Chukwuka, 42, linked with the consignment.

In Ondo State, apart from the seizure of 633.5kgs of cannabis at Eleyere, Ogbese in Akure North Local Council, 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.

About 187kgs of the same substance were seized by operatives at Sapele road, Benin, Edo State, while in Kano, NDLEA officers, on Monday, February 5, arrested 58-year-old Bashir Attahir in the Bachirawa area of the state with 216,000 pills of tramadol 250mg.

Another suspect, Ejike Moses Nmenme, 47, was nabbed the following day, Tuesday, February 6, with 25,190 capsules of tramadol and different quantities of rohypnol and codeine syrup, along Emir Road, in the Sabon Gari area of the city while the duo of Yusuf Abdullahi Musa, 35, and Yusuf Musa, 28, were nabbed at Gadar Tamburawa, with 1,000 ampoules of tramadol injection, on Thursday, February 8.

In Borno State, a 42-year-old suspected supplier of illicit drugs to insurgents in Banki, a border region between Nigeria and Cameroon, Ahmad Mohammed, was arrested by NDLEA operatives on Friday, February 9, at Bama check point. When his luggage was searched, 20,000 capsules of tramadol were recovered. He had been on his way to deliver the opioid consignment in the border town.

A six-month pregnant woman, Amarachi Akaolisa, 25, and another lady, Ifeoma Iheanyi, 21, were among six suspects arrested for dealing in illicit substances in Oraifite and Umuni-Evili, Aguleri, Anambra State.

Others nabbed include: Okwuchukwu Chukwuka; Onyedika Ngwu; Ekene Hyginus and Nzomiwu Ikechukwu.

Recovered from them were over six kilogrammes of cannabis, tramadol, diazepam and codeine syrup, in raids conducted by NDLEA operatives between Tuesday and Thursday February 6 and 8, in parts of the state.

In Lagos, two ladies: Boluwatife Adebayo and Omolade Fola Adebayo, were among suspects arrested during raids in parts of the state on Saturday, February 10.

While Ogah Sunday Adole and Boluwatife Adebayo were arrested at Agidingbi, Ikeja, in connection with 220grams of cannabis, 10.6 litres of codeine syrup, and other psychotropic substances, Omolade Fola Adebayo was nabbed at Ijesha with various quantities of cannabis, codeine syrup, rohypnol and molly.