It is a no-retreat-no-surrender war for the retired General Buba Marwa-led National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) against drug cartels allegedly exporting Tramadol, Ecstasy MDMA and Cannabis to Europe and other countries via the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
The Tabloid.net gathered that the agency had rounded up Odia Efe and Kareem Ibraheem just as it seized 203,879 tablets of various pharmaceutical opioids and illicit drugs in raids across Abia, Kaduna, Yobe and Kogi States.
Public Affairs Officer of the NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi has issued a release to confirm the arrests, revealing that Efe was picked at the Lagos Airport, on Monday, 9 May on way to board Royal Air Moroc flight from Lagos via Casablanca to Milan, Italy with 1000 tablets of Tramadol 200mg concealed in food items.
Babafemi added, “Five days after, a freight agent, Kareem Ibrahim, was arrested at the SAHCO Cargo Shed of the Lagos Airport for attempting to export food items in which were hidden blocks of cannabis weighing 6.65kg and 24grams of ecstasy drug, MDMA to Dubai in UAE.”
He also disclosed that three trucks loaded with drugs from Lagos and Onitsha, Anambra were intercepted in Aba, Abia State.
Babafemi said, “When properly searched in the presence of the owners, on Wednesday, 11 May, 67,100 tablets/capsules of Tramadol and 12,650 ampules of pentazocine, morphine and dopamine were recovered.
“On the same day, NDLEA operatives, in Kaduna State, arrested a notorious drug dealer, Shehu Kabiru (aka ), who had earlier been declared wanted by the Kastina Command of the Agency for jumping bail.
“Recovered from him include 45,000 tablets of Diazepam weighing 41.5kg; 50,000 tablets of Exol, weighing 15.6kg; 1,500 tablets of Rohypnol weighing 700 grams and 300 bottles of codeine weighing 41.5kg.
“In Yobe State, no fewer than 7,029 tablets of Tramadol, D5 and Exolas well as 1.5kg cannabis were recovered from a drug dealer, Ibrahim Yakubu, when his hideout was raided in Unguru Town on Sunday, 8 May.
“While in Rivers State, one Chekiri Richard Obomanu was arrested at the Eleme Area on Wednesday, 11 May, with 207.2kg cannabis.
“No less than 19,600 tablets of Tramadol, coming from Onitsha, Anambra State to Abuja, were intercepted and recovered along Okene/Abuja Highway, on Wednesday, 11 May by NDLEA operatives in Kogi State,” it was stated in the release.
Similarly, the NDLEA disclosed that five members of a syndicate, which conducts fake recruitment into security agencies, have been arrested in coordinated operations in Zamfara, Kebbi and Bauchi states.
“Leader of the gang, Yakubu Sani, was first arrested in Gusau, Zamfara State. His criminal gang issues fake NDLEA employment letters and identity cards to unsuspecting members of the public for the sum of N400,000 per person.
In his reaction to his officers’ breakthrough, chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), commended the officers and men of the MMIA, Abia, Kaduna, Yobe, Rivers and Kogi Commands, also acknowledging successfull operations in Zamfara, Kebbi and Bauchi States that nailed five members of a criminal gang scamming innocent job seekers with fake employment letters.
The agency’s chairman charged them and their compatriots across all commands not to rest on their oars, but should continue to aspire to beat previous records
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