The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), on Saturday, seized multi-billion naira worth of illicit drugs at a warehouse in International Trade Fair Complex, Alaba, Ojo area of Lagos State.
The owner of the warehouse is a wanted drug baron who parades himself as an automobile spare parts dealer.
NDLEA’s Spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, who made this known on Sunday, said that the Chief Security Officer to the wanted drug baron, Paulinus Ojukwu, was arrested and is assisting with the ongoing investigation.
According to him, 1.4 million (1,400,000) pills of tramadol 225mg weighing 826kgs; 3.2 million (3,200,000) pills of codeine with a gross weight of 3,360kgs; and 2,841 cartons of codeine syrup containing 284,100 bottles with 28,410 liters of the psychoactive substance, with a combined street value of Four Billion Eight Hundred and Twenty Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N4,820,500,000) were recovered from the warehouse.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives, on Friday, intercepted counterfeit Twenty Million US Dollar notes ($20 million) during a stop and search operation along Abaji – Lokoja road, Abuja.
The suspected fake money was recovered from a bus coming from Lagos to Abuja, while the 53-year-old driver of the vehicle, Onyebuchi Nlededin was arrested.
On Thursday, Jude Ndubuisi, 52, was arrested with 2.2 kilograms of methamphetamine during a raid operation at Kabusa village, FCT.
The suspect was initially arrested with 20.75kg of cannabis on 7th July 2022 and was on court bail following his ongoing prosecution when he was nabbed for yet another drug crime.
Another raid of two notorious drug joints in Dei Dei and Tora-Bora Hills, FCT, led to the recovery of 82.8kg skunk, 1.8kg rohypnol and 1.2kg diazepam on Wednesday 16th August.
In Osun, NDLEA operatives, in the early hours of Saturday, destroyed clusters of cannabis farms measuring about 3.49000 hectares (over 7.5 tons) at Mopatedo in Ifedayo Local Government Area of the State.
Two suspects, Sunday Otogbo, 40, and Peter Andel Makra, 35, were arrested inside the cannabis farms.
Additional 30kg cannabis weeds and 16.9kg of cannabis seeds were also recovered from the farms.
Three suspects, Ndubuisi Okorie, 44; Ebilima Emmanuel, 38, and Okechukwu Anthony Smart, 40, were arrested in connection with the seizure of 168kg cannabis consignment from them when their vehicle was intercepted along Owerri-Onitsha expressway, Imo State on Saturday.
Another shipment of controlled drugs containing 6,000 capsules of tramadol, 1,200 tablets of swinol, 155 bottles of codeine syrup and 20 tabs of Molly was equally seized on the same road on Sunday 13th August while a follow-up operation in Oyigbo area of Port Harcourt, Rivers state led to the arrest of the owner of the consignment, Remigius Ogechukwu, 33.
While a teenager, Boniface Odinakachukwu, 19, was apprehended with a 99.4kg skunk at Isikwe Road, Achi in Oji-River LGA, Enugu state on Friday 18th August, a wanted teenage bandit, Aliyu Mohammed Altine, 19, was arrested by NDLEA operatives along Illela- Sokoto road with some wraps of skunk on Thursday.
The suspect who is on the wanted list of the Police has since been transferred to the Police in Sokoto state for further investigation.
While expressing his satisfaction with the professional conduct of the officers and men involved in the Lagos, FCT, Sokoto, Osun, Imo, and Enugu operations as well as the results of the raids, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) charged operatives of the Lagos command to ensure that the fleeing baron is smoked out from his hiding to face charges.
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