NDLEA dismantles cocaine syndicates and seizes multi-billion-naira worth of drugs in nationwide raids.

NDLEA officers have seized multi-billion-naira worth of cocaine hidden in various items, including heavy-duty automobile pivot shafts and Ghanaian Kente fabric. On Monday, August 5th, 2024, 2.32 kilograms of cocaine concealed in Kente materials bound for the UK were intercepted at a courier company in Lagos. Additionally, 10.494 kilograms of the same drug were discovered in pivot shafts destined for the United States after NDLEA sniffer dogs detected the illicit substances, bringing the total cocaine haul from the two shipments to 12.814 kilograms.On Friday, August 9th, 2024, five more consignments headed for the US, UK, and Canada were intercepted at the same courier firm. These included 517 grams of cocaine hidden in clothing, as well as various quantities of pentazocine and promethazine injections, cocodamol pills destined for the UK, and 297 pills of tramadol 225mg bound for Canada. In a separate operation at another logistics company in Lagos, NDLEA operatives recovered 21 parcels of Loud, a synthetic cannabis strain weighing 10kg, which had arrived from the US and was meant for delivery in Abuja.In another intelligence-led operation on Wednesday, August 7th, NDLEA agents arrested Obiora Joseph Agudosi, a member of a cocaine trafficking network, in the Alafia Orile, Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos while he was attempting to transport 9.00 kilograms of cocaine to Onitsha, Anambra state. Following this, on Thursday, August 8th, two other members of a cocaine syndicate based in Nnewi and Oba, Anambra state, were arrested after their consignments were seized in a GUO transport company bus in Benin, Edo state.The bus driver, Harrison Mbachu, 44, was apprehended at the Benin tollgate with 2.865 kilograms of cocaine. Izuchkwu Arinze, 40, was arrested in Nnewi while trying to collect his consignment of 1.748 kilograms of cocaine and 514 grams of sodium bicarbonate, and Ameachi Okoro, 39, was caught while attempting to pick up 1.117 kilograms of cocaine in Oba town.Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives at the Tincan seaport in Lagos, on Wednesday, August 7th, intercepted 532 parcels of Loud, weighing 265.25 kilograms, inside a black Toyota Sienna bus, one of three vehicles in a container arriving from Montreal, Canada. The seizure occurred during a joint examination with Customs Service and other stakeholders. The following day, Thursday, August 8th, 75 more parcels of the same substance, weighing 37.5 kilograms, were seized from a container also arriving from Canada.In Adamawa state, on Thursday, August 8th, NDLEA operatives, with support from men of Operation Farauta Sector 3, Mayo Belwa, arrested 49-year-old Joseph Peter, who was found transporting 425 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 291.2 kilograms in his Toyota Camry, en route from Edo state to Yola, Adamawa state.In another operation on Tuesday, August 6th, NDLEA officers in Kano arrested two suspects, Adekunle Sunday Adebayo, 50, and Yahaya Mamuda, 35, at Gadar Tamburawa with 29.5 kilograms of cannabis. In Lagos, on Sunday, August 4th, 1,169 kilograms of cannabis were recovered from a bus along Orchid Road, Ajah.In Kogi state, on Friday, August 9th, NDLEA officers, supported by the Nigerian Army, destroyed 1,230 kilograms of cannabis cultivated on three hectares of farmland in Ikeje Forest, Edimogo village, Igalamela/Odolu LGA. The owner, Danjuma Maji, 40, was arrested.Throughout the past week, NDLEA Commands and formations nationwide continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities in schools, worship centers, workplaces, and communities. These activities included a WADA enlightenment lecture for women at Fowewe Sofuwa Islamic Centre in Saki, Oyo state; a sensitization lecture and community drug control committee inauguration at Nnando community, Anambra state; an advocacy visit to the Emir of Ilorin, HRH Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, in Kwara state; and a lecture for members of Ansaru-ud-deen Muslim Society of Nigeria in Ado Ekiti, among others.Commending the officers and men of the Special Operations Unit, Tincan, Lagos, Edo, Kano, Kogi, and Adamawa Commands, as well as those of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI), for their arrests and seizures, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), urged them to maintain their balanced approach to reducing drug supply and demand.Femi BabafemiDirector, Media & AdvocacyNDLEA Headquarters, AbujaSunday, August 11th, 2024