Anti-narcotic officers of the agency intercepted 26, 600 bottles of the illicit substance meant for distribution across Northern states.
The consignment was seized on Thursday 15th Sept. along Zaria-Kano road, Gadar Tamburawa, Kano .
The 39-year-old proprietor from Akinyele LGA, Oyo state and three of his distributors were arrested in follow up operations.
In the same vein, NDLEA operatives had on Tuesday 13th Sept. intercepted another trafficker, Chukwu Kingsley on his way to Rome, Italy on an Asky Airline flight.
A search of his luggage shows he had concealed among food condiments 11,460 tablets of tramadol 225mg with a gross weight of 5.7kg and 39 bottles of codeine syrup.
The 49-year-old suspect is a known haulage agent who hails from Oru West Local Government Area of Imo State.
Also at the Lagos airport, a freight agent, Lawal Adeyemi was arrested same day for attempting to export some sachets of lexotan among other non-controlled drugs to Liberia, while operatives equally seized 593.90 kilograms of khat leaf at the NAHCO import shed of the airport on Thursday 15th Sept. after a joint examination of the cargo by a combined team of security agencies.
In Kogi state, operatives on patrol along Okene-Abuja expressway on Saturday 17th Sept. intercepted a J5 vehicle coming from Onitsha enroute Kaduna-Zaria with 18 pieces of pump action rifles and 1,300 cartridges.
While the two suspects conveying the arms and ammunition, Chukwudi Aronu, 51, and Shuaibu Gambo, 23, were arrested.
Another suspect, Anthony Agada, 37, conveying 1,000 cartridges, was equally nabbed in a bus coming from Onitsha to Abuja same day, while 1,404 bottles of codeine syrup and 2,040 ampoules of pentazocine injection were seized from another vehicle coming from Onitsha enroute Sokoto, with the receiver, Stanley Raymond, 39, and the sender, Shadrack Ifediora, 46, arrested in follow up operations in Sokoto and Anambra respectively.
“In Kaduna, a drug dealer, Mohammed Mustapha Dalhatu a.k.a Dawa, was arrested at Sabon Gari Zaria with eight bags of cannabis sativa weighing 67kg, and another, Maikudi Hassan, arrested at Gubuci village of Ikara LGA with five bags of cannabis weighing 54.2kg.
“On Thursday 15th Sept, operatives also arrested Mary Ugwu and Hawwa Idi, at Anchau town, Kubau LGA with 721 ampoules of pentazocine injection; 37,000 tablets of exol-5 and nine ampoules of diazepam injection as well as 6.8kg of rubber solution.
“In Edo, operatives recovered 285kg cannabis in two raids at Okpuje, Owan West LGA, on Friday 16th Sept, while in Lagos, 972.5kg of the same substance was recovered from an electronic shop at Alaba Int’l market and one of the suspects, Mrs. Ebere Aja, 38, arrested.
“No less than 335.1kg of cannabis was also seized in a raid at Kwanar Kundum area of Bauchi town, with two suspects: Usman Garba and Najib Ibrahim, arrested.”
Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa(Rtd) has directed the Kogi state command to immediately hand over the arms and ammunition seized to the police for further investigation.
Marwa (Retd) commended officers and men of the commands for their vigilance and resilience.
He charged them and others across the country to remain focussed as they daily discharge their responsibilities.
