•Recovers 2 tons of illicit substances in 7 states
By Emma Njoku
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), on Saturday, raided a lounge in Osogbo, the Osun State capital and arrested some organisers of a party who were found with drug exhibits.
NDLEA’s Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, in a statement, yesterday, said the raid followed credible intelligence that some people were going to hold a night party tagged “Unholy Alliance…for Stoners and Drunkards” where different types of illicit substances were going to be sold and consumed by patrons.
“Soon after the organisers began to gather at Berrymist Lounge, located at the Ofatedo area of Osogbo, to start the party, NDLEA operatives swooped on them, arrested them and recovered illicit substances of abuse and drug paraphernalia from them.
“Those arrested include: Ikotu Omolayo, 25; Fola Olabode, 30, and Akorede Adunni Ajibola, 22. The management of the Lounge has also been invited for further investigation. This comes on the heels of an earlier raid on Thursday, November 23, at Area 5 forest reserve, Ile-Ife, where operatives recovered 156kgs of cannabis sativa,” Babafemi stated.
Meanwhile, operatives in Ogun State, last Friday, arrested two suspects: Adamu Ibrahim and Nura Sani, at Ileke trailer garage, along Lagos-Ibadan expressway, where 859 kilograms of cannabis sativa were concealed among bags of sugar in a truck for onward transportation to Mokwa, Niger State.
The consignment was loaded in Ogbese, Ondo State and hidden among bags of cement in a truck before being trans-loaded into another trailer bearing sugar in Ogun State.
In Edo State, operatives on Monday, November 20, stormed a warehouse at Obi Camp in Owan West LGA, where they recovered 338kgs of cannabis concealed in sacks of charcoal, while in another operation in Ikhin forest, Owan East LGA, NDLEA officers seized 235kgs of the same psychoactive substance last Saturday. A suspect, Onah Kenneth Ikechukwu, 32, was arrested at Jattu, Etsako West LGA with 11,690 capsules of tramadol, 295 bottles of codeine syrup and various quantities of molly, cannabis and methamphetamine last Wednesday.
A similar raid in Lagos last Wednesday, at Enu Owa Street, Lagos Island led to the recovery of 40,500 ampoules of pentazocine injection; 440,000 pills of tramadol in a store belonging to a suspect, Ebuka Amechi, who is currently at large. Not less than 135,600 capsules of tramadol and 950grams of cannabis were seized from two suspects: Afamefuna Ibekwe, 37, and Sunday Onweh, 41, at Nkpor, Akuzor and Ose-Ogbaijo, Onitsha, respectively.
While 37,360 pills of different opioids and 250 bottles of codeine syrup coming from Onitsha, Anambra State, en route Abuja were recovered from Muhammed Abba Khamis, 22, last Thursday, along Okene- Lokoja-Abuja expressway, operatives in Ekiti State seized a total of 288kgs of cannabis at Odo-Owa forest in Ijero LGA last Saturday. At least 116kgs of the same psychoactive substance were seized from a suspect, Chinagorom Obaru, 24, who was arrested at Iju forest, last Thursday.
In the same vein, commands across the 36 states and the FCT equally continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA), sensitisation lectures in schools, communities, work places and others. Some of these include: WADA sensitisation lecture for students and staff of Comprehensive High School, Abia, Udi LGA, Enugu; teachers and students of Dr. Nuhu Sanusi Junior/Senior Secondary School, Dutse, Jigawa; students of Haneef High School, Jos, Plateau; students of Akinorun Muslim Grammar School, Ikirun, Osun; students of Zaibadari Michika Primary, Junior and Senior Secondary School, Michika, Adamawa; and students of Madrasa Al-Islamiya Baichin Kako, Marna Gusau, Zamfara State, among others.
Commending the arrests and seizures of the past week by officers and men of the Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Anambra, Ekiti, Kogi and Lagos Commands, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, 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 efforts, especially with the desperation of criminal networks to make money by all means as the yuletide season approaches.