Abuja, Jan. 7, 2024 – The National Drug Laws Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested one Bilkisu Suleman, a 28-year-old woman, who supplies ammunition to bandits.
Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA Spokesman, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
He said Suleman came tops on the list of 12 other suspects arrested by NDLEA operatives in New Year’s interdiction operations in Kaduna, Lagos, Niger, Kogi, Kano, Borno, and Osun states.
Babafemi said Bilkisu was arrested on Wednesday Jan. 3, 2024 by NDLEA officers while on patrol along the Zaria-Kano expressway.
She was found with 249 rounds of 7.62 mm live ammunition concealed in a black nylon bag kept in her lady’s handbag.
“She was on her way to deliver the ammunition to an identified bandit in Kakumi village, Katsina State when she was nabbed after which she was transferred to the Kaduna State command of the Nigeria Police Force for further investigation.
“The military authorities at the Bonny camp cantonment in Lagos on Tuesday 2nd January transferred a suspect, Francis Suru, 37, and 63 jumbo bags of Ghana Loud, a strain of cannabis, weighing 2,104.2 kilograms and a truck to the Lagos state command of NDLEA.
“The suspect and the drug exhibits were earlier intercepted by NDLEA officers on 12th December 2023 close to the gate of the military cantonment in Bonny Camp, Victoria Island.
“Some armed escorts however resorted to sporadic shooting to obstruct the operation, a development which attracted soldiers from the cantonment, who eventually intervened and took custody of the consignment and suspect before transferring them to the Agency.”
Babafemi said its operative the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja, Lagos, on New Year day, intercepted a consignment of Colorado, a very strong strain of cannabis, concealed in boxing kits imported from the United States of America.
He said the week-long intelligence-led operation to get the receiver arrested was succesful on Saturday, Jan. 6, following the successful tracking and arrest of 38-year-old Olorunfunmi Saheed Olakunle who distributes the dangerous psychoactive substance to dealers across Lagos state.
According to the statement, the consignment had arrived in the country on Monday Jan. 1, 2024 via Cairo on an Egypt Airlines flight marked as boxing kits.
Babafemi said Saheed confessed that he delivers such consignments to different recipients whenever his childhood friend in the US, Sagir Salami, sends them.
He said the latest shipment had a total weight of 1.80 kilograms.
Babafemi also NDLEA operatives in Niger State on Thursday, Jan. 5, during a stop and search operation along Suleja-Kaduna road intercepted a J5 bus coming from Ondo State to Zaria, Kaduna State, with 23 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 219.5kg.
He said two suspects: Umar Musa, 26 and Isachiru Abubakar were arrested in connection with the seizure.
The NDLEA Spokesman said that a female drug trafficker, Queen Onyema, 27, was arrested on Saturday, Jan. 6, in a commercial bus enroute in Abuja along Okene-Lokoja expressway with 12 compressed blocks of cannabis weighing 4.6kg and 0.046kg designer drugs concealed in an Indomie carton.
Another suspect, Mubarak Sani, 20, was nabbed at Gadar Tamburawa area of Kano on Monday, Jan 1, with 445.9k kilograms of the same psychoactive substance.
“In Borno, four suspects: Zanna Alhaji Dala, 32; Musa Umar, 21; Mushe Ibrahim, 23, and Shehu Idris, 19 were arrested at Pomfomari bye pass area of the state with 60kg cannabis.
In Osun, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Osogbo-Ode Omu road on New Year’s day, Monday, jan. 1, intercepted a consignment of illicit drugs sent through waybill from Lagos to Osogbo. A follow-up operation led to the arrest of Ibrahim Olawale, 43.
The drugs recovered include cannabis sativa 10.8kg; Loud 150 grams; Colorado 19 grams; and Molly 5 grams totaling 10.974kg. A digital scale, N18,000 monetary exhibit, and customized wrapping papers for Colorado were also seized.
“NDLEA Commands across the 36 states and the FCT equally continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitisation lectures in schools, communities, workplaces, and others. Some of these include: WADA sensitisation lecture for students of Nurul Huda Community Islamiyya school, Farin Yaro, Katsina; members of the first aid group of Jamaatul Izalatul Bidi’a Waiqamatus Sunnah (JIBWIS) at Ajilari community school, Gomari, Maiduguri, Borno; WADA sensitisation lecture at the 2024 Oke Afo youth day, Olorunda LCDA Lagos and WADA advocacy visit to the Emir of Gaya, Alhaji Aliyu Ibrahim Gaya by the Kano state command of the Agency.
“Commending the arrests and seizures of the past week by officers and men of the MMIA, Lagos, Niger, Kogi, Kano, Borno, and Osun Commands, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) charged them and their compatriots across all formations of the Agency to continue to remain vigilant and double their drug demand reduction as well as drug supply reduction efforts in the New Year.” (GBN)
