The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted large consignments of Ghanaian Loud, a strong strain of cannabis sativa, smuggled into Lagos from Ghana loaded in two trucks and a J5 bus with a total weight of 14,524.8 kilogrammes.
The three vehicles conveying jumbo bags of the psychoactive substance were trailed and intercepted in the Ojuelegba area of Lagos in the early hours of Sunday, January 28, 2024.
In the process of blocking the vehicles, the Director, Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi, said in a statement on Sunday that two of the drivers jumped off on motion while the third driver, 66-year-old Nasiru Ojomu, who works with wanted Akala, Mushin-based drug baron Suleiman Jimoh (alias Olowo Idi Ogede, also known as Temo), was arrested.
In the last three years, NDLEA operatives have seized several shipments of the same psychoactive substance worth billions of naira linked to Temo. The wanted drug lord has since gone into hiding while the agency continues its manhunt for him.
In the same vein, the statement said, NDLEA operatives on routine patrol around a warehouse sealed at Church Street, Idumota, Lagos, by the agency over an ongoing investigation on February 1 arrested three suspects: Joseph Joshua, Muhammed Adamu, and Balarabe Musa, who burgled the store and loaded 546,700 pills of tramadol and other opioids into a waiting yellow bus marked BDG 447 XD and an unregistered Suzuki minibus.
Meanwhile, a male deaf and dumb suspect dealing in illicit substances has been arrested in the Samaru area of Zaria, Kaduna State.
At the time of his arrest, 150 grammes of cannabis were recovered from him while he was selling the psychoactive substance.
Another suspect, Ibrahim Sani, was also arrested in possession of 51 kilogrammes of the same substance in the Tirkaniya area of the state, while operatives in Abuja on January 31 arrested Emmanuel Paul with 43.5 kilogrammes of cannabis concealed in used shoes loaded in a trailer coming from Ogbese, Ondo State, to be delivered in the Gwagwalada area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
In Katsina State, NDLEA officers on patrol along Dutsinma – Katsina Road apprehended a suspect, Murtala Isah, on Friday, with a total of 37,600 pills of tramadol and other opioids recovered from him.
In Kogi state, Babafemi said operatives, on the same date, destroyed 833.32 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa on a two-acre farmland in Iluke community, Kabba-Bunu LGA, while the owner, Samuel Atonila, was equally arrested.
On the same day, operatives in Nasarawa state also arrested three suspects: Muhammed Musa, Bilyaminu Musa, and Sadiya Ya’u, with the same psychoactive substance weighing 24.4kg at Uke, Karu local government area of the state, while no less than 258 kilogrammes of the same substance were recovered from a bush store around Ikare bypass, Owo, Ondo state.
In the same vein, NDLEA Commands across the 36 states and the FCT continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, and sensitization lectures in schools, communities, workplaces, and others in the past week.
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), charged the operatives of the agency and their compatriots across all formations to continue to remain vigilant and double their efforts on both drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction simultaneously.
