Abuja, May 4, 2023 – Operatives of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) intercepted 76.9 kilogrammes of Canadian loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers State, between June 1 and June 2.
NDLEA Spokesman, Mr Femi Babafemi, said in a statement on Sunday that the drugs were intercepted while arriving from Canada in four used vehicles loaded in a container marked MSDU6686346.
He said the drugs were seized during a joint inspection with men of the Nigeria Customs Service.
“This followed the request for 100 per cent examination of the shipment as a result of earlier intelligence received by the agency on the container,” he said.
Babafemi said NDLEA operatives also stormed the Iwe forest in the Iwe community in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State where they located a large warehouse of skunk used to store 231 jumbo bags of the psychotropic substance weighing 3,003 kilograms, which was set ablaze.
“The operation, involving hundreds of well-armed NDLEA operatives in the early hours of Tuesday, May 30, followed intelligence that a wanted drug kingpin had stored tons of the illicit substance in the forest ready for distribution to other parts of the country.
“In Kano State, two suspects, Ma’aruf Rabiu and Abubakar Mustapha, were arrested on Tuesday, May 30 along Zaria-Kano road with 260 blocks of cannabis weighing 139.4kg, while Auwal Ibrahim was nabbed with 38kg of the same substance the following day along Kaduna-Abuja road.
“Also on May 31, a 35-year-old female suspect, Bilkisu Isiya, was arrested at Birnin Yero in Kaduna in possession of 5.6kg Indian hemp,’’ he said.
Babafemi also said the duo of Abubakar Usman and Adamu Yusuf were arrested at Bargu village in Shani Local Government Area of Borno on June 3 with 165 blocks of skunk weighing 140.7kg.
He added that their arrest was effected with the support of the military deep inside an insurgents’ environment.
“A female suspect, Hauwa Ibrahim, 25, was also nabbed in Bargu village with 6.4kg of skunk.
“Another suspect, Alhaji Abubakar, 27, was arrested at Njimtilo checkpoint, Borno with 4,200 ampoules of Pentazocine injection and different quantities of psychotropic D5 and exol-5 tablets.
“A 30-year-old suspect, Iroko Wasiu was arrested at a drug joint at Sabo Aba-Owolowo on Oyo-Ogbomoso Expressway on May 30 and 31.2kg of cannabis was recovered from him.
“Two suspects, Deji Adelabu, 35, and Mutiu Salau, 37, were nabbed on May 31 in Sabo area on Oyo-Ogbomoso Road and at Awuro Dada area in Orire Local Government Area of Oyo State, respectively.
“They had a combined weight of 8kg Indian hemp on them,’’ Babafemi said. (GBN)
